The famine sweeping southern Somalia is posing a painful challenge to humanitarian organizations. Children are dying by the thousands just a few kilometers from warehouses full of emergency food supplies. But the countryside is still a war zone controlled by an al-Qaida linked extremist group that restricts humanitarian access, and has killed aid workers.
对于人道救援机构来说，索马里南部遭遇的饥荒是一个很大的挑战。问题不是缺乏紧急救援食品和物资，而是如何把这些食品和物资送到急需救援的大人和孩子的手上。一个和基地恐怖组织有关联的极端主义团伙目前仍然控制着索马里郊外；这个团伙对救援机构的行动，施加了很多的限制，一些救援人员甚至遭到了杀害。在这种形势下，就出现了救援物资到不了目的地的情况；以至于在救援物资囤积不远处、几公里以外，处在饥荒之中的儿童成百上千地死去的状况。
The roads into Mogadishu are dotted with families streaming in from parched southern Somalia in hopes of saving their wafer-thin children from starvation. But even in the capital, the prospect of survival is little better.
在去往索马里首都摩加迪沙的路上，到处可见来自南部旱灾灾区的大人和孩子。这些人拖家带口，到摩加迪沙，无非是希望让骨瘦如柴的孩子不至于饿死。不过，即便是到了摩加迪沙，存活的机率也不见得高到哪儿去。
Twenty-six-year-old Hamsa Ali and her six children were part of a small community that packed their belongings and walked 20 days to get to Mogadishu. Fifteen died along the way, and now children weakened by malnutrition are dying of measles.
26岁的海姆莎·阿里带着六个孩子，跟随其他人一道，卷了铺盖卷，走了20天的路，终于到了索马里首都摩加迪沙。路上，他们一行人当中，就死掉了15个；如今，到了摩加迪沙之后，营养不良的孩子，又有不少，正在被麻疹等疾病夺去生命。
She said her three-year old boy became swollen, contracted measles and died a few days ago.
海姆莎·阿里说，她的三岁的儿子得了麻疹几天前就这么死去的。
Her group has taken refuge in the remains of an Italian-colonial-era church, but it offers little protection from the elements, and the crowded conditions invite disease.
Officials say hastily-erected tent communities like this one are at the breaking point. New camps spring up every day.
Some stocks of emergency food have arrived at a U.N. World Food Program warehouse in Mogadishu. More is on the way, and much more is needed, but the vexing question is how to get the food to people before they starve.
联合国下属的世界粮食项目在摩加迪沙设有一个专门存放紧急救援物资的仓库；一些救援食品刚刚被送到这里，而且更多的救援食品也已经在路上了。不过，救援人员目前面临的一大问题是，如何把这些物资送到那些需要的饥民手上，让他们活下来。
It is more complicated than one might think. Years of control by the anti-Western al-Shabab extremist group have left Somalia with no aid delivery infrastructure. After al-Shabab was driven out of Mogadishu this month, the flood of hungry families from the countryside intensified. But al-Shabab still controls the famine ravaged south, where 2.2-million people are believed to be in desperate straits.
这中间的挑战比乍看起来，要复杂得多。多年来，摩加迪沙一直是在反西方的极端主义组织青年党控制之下，这个组织“执政”期间，根本没有设置任何救援物资运输系统。这个月，青年党终于被赶出了了摩加迪沙；就在这同时，来自外地的那些灾民大量涌入首都，而且青年党这个组织目前还在控制着索马里南部，那里面临着及其严重的饥荒，处在危险边缘的人，多达两百二十万。
That desperation is spreading to Mogadishu. Last week, hungry residents at one camp laid siege to a truck delivering grain and began carting away sacks of food. Guards trying to control the crowd began shooting. Several people died.
The dilemma is this - the World Food Program distributes food primarily through humanitarian NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), but Western aid groups spooked by the killing of humanitarian workers have stopped working in Somalia. Even the World Food Program shut down its operation a year and a half ago after 14 of its local employees were killed.
两难之处在于，世界粮食计划署主要通过人道主义非政府组织发放粮食，但是西方援助团体因为人道主义工作者被打死已经停止了在索马里的运作。就连世粮署也在一年半前结束了它的运作，因为之前该机构的14名当地员工被打死。
Now, when people are starving by the thousands, there is no system to ensure the aid gets to those who need it. WFP spokesperson in Mogadishu Susannah Nicoll says rebuilding the aid infrastructure is excruciatingly time consuming. "It is not a case a case of just dumping food. You can not just dump it. It is a desperate situation where you know you want to get the access, but you have to do it in a fashion that you know it would be safe and it would reach the people you are trying to target," she said.
现在，当成千上万的人正忍饥挨饿时，没有一个系统来确保援助物资送到有需要的人手中。世界粮食计划署发言人苏珊娜·尼科尔说，重建援助基础设施是极度费时的。尼科尔说：“这不是倾倒粮食那么简单。你不能只倾倒粮食。这绝对是这样一种情况，你知道你想要进入，但是你不得不确认，这样做是安全的，援助物资能够到达你的目标人群手中。”
The World Food Program and other agencies have come in for severe criticism for keeping a warehouse full of food, while people in the city are starving. The self-proclaimed mayor of Mogadishu has urged the World Food Program to give the food to local NGOs who can at least help some of the people.
世界粮食计划署和其它机构受到严厉的批评，他们被指责仓库堆满了粮食，但这个城市中的人们却在忍饥挨饿。摩加迪沙市自封的市长已敦促世粮署把粮食交给当地的非政府组织，这些组织至少能够帮助一些人。
But the WFP’s Susannah Nicoll says the short-term solution would be a long-term mistake. “There are lots of people who have arrived in town claiming to be NGOs and you have to know they are going to be able to [distribute food] in a reasonable fashion with minimal risk to be able to target people. It is not just a case of handing out food to anyone who says, ‘We can give it out," she said.
不过世粮署的发言人尼科尔说，这一短期的解决方案在长期看来将会是个错误。尼科尔说：“已有很多人到达城镇，他们声称是非政府组织，你必须了解他们是否能用一种合理的方式发放粮食，以最小的风险将粮食送到目标人群手里。而不是把粮食交给那些声称‘我们能把粮食发出去’的任何人。”
With food security analysts predicting the famine zone might soon spread to the entire south, the head of Somalia’s feeble transitional government is proposing creation of a special food security protection force. But Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali admits it would take precious time to train and arm the force, which would then face a difficult challenge escorting food shipments through Mogadishu, much less the al-Shabab controlled south.
Susannah Nicoll says the World Food Program is not ruling out anything as it looks for ways to reach people in the famine zone. But when asked how long it would be before the aid operation would be up to full speed, she said it would only be when humanitarian groups have full access to the south.
苏珊娜·尼科尔说，世粮署在寻求如何把粮食发放给饥荒区人民的方式，该机构不排除任何可行方案。但是当被问到援助工作还需要多久才能全速展开时，她说，只有当人道主义组织能够完全进入索马里南部地区时才可以。
The reality is, there is no quick solution. Somalia faces many difficult months ahead.
现实是，没有快速的解决放案。索马里未来几个月处境艰难。 |