The global economic crisis and its impact in East Africa

With the current economic crisis worsening in the United States and Europe, conditions in the former colonial nations have reached critical proportions. In Eastern Africa, mounting food deficits, a sharp decline in living standards and rising energy costs have intensified ongoing political and labor unrest.

In Somalia, where a U.S.-backed invasion in December 2006 has met with continuing resistance, the humanitarian situation inside this Horn of Africa nation has been described by humanitarian organizations as the worst crisis on the continent.

Mark Bowden, who is the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, has pointed out that although the situation inside the country is quite similar to what exists throughout the region, the overall conditions are far worse.

“The food and livelihood crisis in Somalia is already critical after very poor rains in the southern and central parts of the country this year, combined with violence and limited or no access to the affected populations,” Bowden said in a press conference in Nairobi, Kenya, on July 23.

At the same press conference, Besida Tonwe, who heads the regional office of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that the urban poor were among those at greatest risk.

In specific reference to Somalia, which has not had an internationally recognized government since the collapse of the Western-backed Siad Barre regime in 1991, Tonwe said: “The emergency is exacerbated by the erosion of livelihoods among the landless, pastoralists, internally displaced persons and the urban poor across the regions. Disease outbreaks fuelled by poor hygiene and sanitation in drought-affected areas, and poor health and nutrition services, including low immunization coverage, are additional risks for mothers and children.”

In Ethiopia, where the country's military is occupying Somalia on behalf of U.S. foreign policy imperatives, Peter Smerdon, a senior public affairs officer for the UN World Food Program, emphasized at the above-mentioned press conference, that some 4.6 million people will be in need of emergency food aid between August and the end of 2008. This food shortage is the result of the drought and political unrest in the southern, central, western and northeastern areas of the country.

That shows the pro-Western stance of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia has not provided any tangible benefits to the masses of people living in both urban and rural areas inside the country.

Resistance to occupation continues in Somalia

Somalia’s people have resisted the Ethiopian military occupation, which is supplied with sophisticated weapons from the Pentagon. By bombing civilian areas, destroying the national infrastructure including the airport in the capital, as well as displacing hundreds of thousands of people, the occupiers have eliminated any progress made by the Union of Islamic Courts during 2006.

On July 24-25 Islamic anti-occupation resistance forces attacked Ethiopian soldiers in the town of Beledweyne, located 210 miles north of the capital of Mogadishu. Ethiopian units responded by seizing a bridge in the center of Beledweyne, which was later recaptured by the Somali resistance in a round of heavy artillery shelling in this major battle.

Ethiopia has continued to support and prop up the Somali Transitional Federal Government, which the Somali masses view as a front for Western interests in the region and which they therefore fiercely oppose.

Earlier in May, rebellions erupted in the capital of Mogadishu in response to rising prices for food and other essential services. The U.S.-backed transitional government had just issued a new currency, which turned out to be worthless in conducting transactions in the marketplace.

Just recently the United Nations World Food Program issued a warning that a million people could go hungry in Somalia by August unless there are major shipments of food to address the growing shortages. It has been estimated that since the Ethiopian military invaded the country in December 2006, some 8,000 civilians have been killed and approximately 1 million others have been internally displaced.

New developments in Kenya’s labor struggles

In Kenya several months after more than 1,000 people died in violent clashes sparked by the dispute over the outcome of national elections last December, the ability of the present coalition government, composed of two pro-U.S. parties headed by Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, has been severely compromised.

A July 24 Inter-Regional Information Network report stated, “Erratic rainfall, soaring farming costs, and a shortage in materials in the western district of Mount Elgon could compromise food security in the region.”

The IRIN report quoted a farmer in western Kenya, Wilson Keya of the Cheptais division of the district of Mt. Elgon, who said: “Right now we are expecting four bags of maize per acre instead of the usual 20 as we could not afford to use any fertilizer.” Prices for fertilizer have doubled over the last year, decreasing sales in the district up to 60 percent.

Meanwhile, dockworkers employed by the Kenya Ports Authority are resisting rising costs and declining living standards. The Dock Workers Union has engaged in a work slowdown which began as a protest against a seven-day work schedule that the KPA imposed. The new rules deny overtime pay for Saturday and Sunday.

According to the controversial schedule, implemented on July 1, employees must work seven straight days before they can have two days off. The new schedule limits overtime hours, causing a steep decline in workers’ incomes amid a rapid rise in the cost of food, fuel and other services.

On July 27 the union’s secretary-general, Simon Sang, stated that the labor actions would continue until Aug. 1. When talks failed to resolve differences with the KPA, the union threatened a full-blown strike in this industry vital to Kenya’s economy.

KPA Managing Director Abdalla Mwaruwa said on July 23 that the work slowdown was illegal and that the Dock Workers’ demand for the withdrawal of the seven-day work schedule was “impossible because it came about as a result of a court award.” The KPA representative said that the labor action carried out by the 4,000 Dock Workers could paralyze operations at the port. The KPA threatens to fire workers taking part in the slowdown.

Regional crisis highlights failure of neo-liberal agenda

Even though the United States, Britain and the European Union are demanding that African nations in the eastern region of the continent follow their purported “anti-terrorism” and pro-capitalist agenda, the conditions for the masses of working people and farmers are worsening. During the recent G8 summit in Japan, the major preoccupation of these imperialist states was the total isolation of Zimbabwe and the deployment of more military forces to the Darfur region of Sudan.

When the eight African heads of state invited to the G8 meeting reminded the industrialized countries that they had promised to provide $40 billion some three years ago at the summit in Scotland to assist in industrial, agricultural and health care projects, their questions were dismissed while the imperialists continued to insist on setting the agenda for these developing regions.

Yet it is quite obvious that the legacy of colonialism and neo-colonialism in Africa cannot be overcome within the context of the present system. Washington and its allies staunchly oppose every attempt the Africans make to exercise some semblance of independence as it relates to economic and political policies. In Somalia this intervention has taken the form of an indirect U.S. occupation, leading to the worst humanitarian crisis on the African continent.

In Kenya the problems of rising costs and food deficits are increasing political and labor unrest in critical areas of the national economy. In Ethiopia, despite the large-scale military and political assistance provided by Washington, the majority of the people are becoming poorer every day.

As the situation unfolds inside the United States as well, the massive drain of the military and security apparatus has had a profound impact on the living standards of the working class and the oppressed. These conditions both inside the Western imperialist states and in the regions of the so-called Third World provide greater avenues for potential international solidarity among the peoples of the globe.

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