Today’s editorial is inspired by the picture on the front page (above) – a photo of a young Somali mother cradling her undernourished child.
The child is clearly in pain. The makeshift tent the mother and child are using to shelter from the sun says it all. It shows the extent of the poverty that people like Sahra and her son Ibrahim live in – a lifestyle that we cannot even begin to comprehend.
Somalia is currently gripped by a drought which has killed many and displaced many more. It is just another one in a long list of woes for the people of the east African country.
Today is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, also known as Our Mother of Sorrows. People like Sahra are the modern day mothers of sorrows, yet it seems that religious statues get far more attention, during this time of year at least, than these real life sorrowful mothers.
Earlier this week we witnessed the horrible chemical weapons attack in Syria, which killed dozens upon dozens of people. One family lost 22 members in this single attack. We were all shocked at seeing the graphic footage of dead children, foaming at the mouth or bleeding from the ears, and the even more distressing videos of children writhing around in the mud, gasping on their final breaths. The cruelty of man knows no bounds.
The latest gas attack was condemned by the entire world, but condemnation does not save children and their parents from such senseless and brutal attacks. The incident will be forgotten in a few days’ time, just like we forgot the last one, and the one before that. Just like we forgot the images of Aylan Kurdi, the young Syrian migrant who was found drowned on the shores of Turkey. That was almost two years ago. The picture of Aylan also brought international condemnation, but how has that helped the situation in Syria?
Brothers are still killing brothers and the international community, it seems, has only managed to make things worse. Syria is nothing but a power game – major power supporting the two warring sides – but in the middle of it all there are children dying on a daily basis. And the world is turning a blind eye.
Chemical weapons were first used in World War One, more than a hundred years ago. The west has banned their use but somehow, countries like Syria still have stockpiles of nerve agents, and the regime is not afraid to use them on the civilian population. That is why the entire world, and not just the west, or Russia, should put a stop to this madness and restore peace in the region.
Yet it seems that the world is doing the exact opposite of this.
In the case of Somalia, US President Donald Trump has authorized greater military authority to pursue the al-Qaeda linked al-Shabab extremists in the country. This, experts have warned, will put civilians further at risk, for the places the displaced people live in will now be considered a war zone.
In the case of Syria, before the bodies of the gassed children had even gone cold, the US and Russia were already engaging in a blame game.
Nothing will change. A new tragedy will take the lives of many, and shock the world for a few days, but it will also be forgotten, just like the one after it, and the one after that.