• Listen to this segment

• Listen to the entire program

Motivated by starvation, a pregnant woman walks through the desert for 30 days before reaching a relief camp, giving birth upon arrival. A mother of seven feeds her children on grass and leaves for days while traveling to the same camp. Her baby son develops diarrhea on the journey and dies soon after arrival. These are just two stories related by Oxfam relief workers at the Dabaab refugee camp at the border of Somalia and Kenya. There are hundreds of thousands of East Africans in the same desperate situation. A drought affecting the Horn of Africa has triggered a food crisis. The United Nations recently declared a famine in Bakool and Lower Shabelle, in Southern Somalia. An Oxfam refugee camp in the country is receiving 1000 new people daily. The organization is providing assistance to 1.2 million people, but reports the food shortage affects over 10 million East Africans. There are many causes of the crisis. Drought has reduced food production and prices have spiked. The drought has also caused the death of as much as 90% of the livestock in some areas , devastating income and food supplies. Civil conflicts, inefficient government action, and a lack of international support, have also played a role. The United States’ policies have been blamed for hindering the ability of relief groups to deliver food to areas in Somalia controlled by the militant group al-Shabab. U.S. anti-terrorism laws against providing material aid to terrorist groups leave open the possibility that humanitarian organizations will be prosecuted if their aid is captured and hoarded or otherwise used by Al-Shabab. The Somali group has also blocked or intimidated aid workers. Yesterday, the Associated Press reported President Obama will issue new guidelines to ensure aid groups in Somalia will not be prosecuted in the course of their work.

GUEST: Shannon Scribner, Oxfam America’s Humanitarian Policy Manager

Find out more at www.oxfamamerica.org and www.interaction.org.