Multi-prong approach needed to fight famine in Somalia

"The Obama administration deserves credit for acting in advance to ameliorate the effects" of drought in East Africa, a New York Times editorial states, noting that USAID has been working since last summer, when the crisis was predicted, to "plac[e] food and other supplies in Kenya, Djibouti and South Africa" and "working on programs to help Somalia and other countries improve food production to avert future crises."

"Republicans in Congress must not be allowed to succeed in their mean-spirited and shortsighted efforts to slash food aid for next year," the editorial says, concluding, "There is no easy answer to Somali's agonies. It has to start with saving millions now at risk of starvation, helping them improve their ability to grow their own food and finding ways to strengthen a shaky central government" (8/11).