By Arun Kumar Shrivastav
The Horn of Africa, also known as Somali Peninsula, is making big news these days but somehow it’s not reaching us with the same high decibel resonance as the Sri Lankan economic and political crisis or the Russia-Ukraine war. A geographical region that spans several African countries — Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda, the Horn of Africa is in the grip of a prolonged and devastating drought.
After many consecutive poor rainy seasons, this region is facing the worst drought since 1981 – about 40 years. The crisis has been compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Now, at least 10 million children are, according to Unicef, in the “greatest danger” while 20 million people are staring at starvation.
Stretching from Somalia to Tanzania and covering an area of 580,367 sq km with 48.4 million people, the Horn of Africa is also the financial hub of East Africa.The region hosts about 67% of refugees who fled fearing for their lives from many African countries ruled by despotic leaders, amid tribal and fundamentalist insurgency. But except some media outlets, nobody really is caring for what is happening in these African countries.
Despite complete anarchy in a country of 22 million people, average Sri Lankans are still enjoying a much better life than those in the Horn of Africa. The mindless Russian invasion of Ukraine has prompted top leaders from the Western world to make heroic appearances in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. However, there is no end to the war in sight. Why?
It’s because the 69-year-old Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is a former spy of the dreaded KGB while the President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a former actor and comedian. Putin understands the reality of world politics as an insider, more incisively than 44-year-old Zelenskyy, who because of his training is only good at playing to the gallery. He is putting up a good show but his people are suffering and for that reason alone his leadership is far from foresighted and consumate. His 44-year-old wife Olena Zelenska is also a screenwriter.
In Sri Lanka, 76-year-old Mahindra Rajapaksa resigned as the Prime Minister on Monday, the day when the island nation saw the worst violence with eight people dead. His ancestral house was set on fire and protestors laid a siege and tried to storm the heavily guarded house throughout the night before. Rajapaksa who began as a lawyer and entered the parliament first way back in 1970 did not resign even a week ago when the situation had not come to this pass.
Mahinda Rajapaksa and his 69-year-old wife Shiranthi Wickremesinghe Rajapaksa who is a child psychologist are at a naval base after being evacuated by the security forces. Protestors have gathered around this security post and blocked the way to the airport so that the Rajapaksa family can’t escape from the country. The people had been taken for granted for far too long!
Like Mahinda Rajapaksa, Vladimir Putin has also stayed put in the country’s top position ever since he got there. People called him a dictator and accused him of rigging the polls, putting opposition leaders in jail, and even poisoning some of them. He once fired the Prime Minister he had appointed live on a TV show. Putin divorced his wife for 30 years Lyudmila in 2014 and had been in a relationship with Olympic gold medalist rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, who is 38 years old now.
The latest news is that Alina Kabaeva is pregnant with Putin’s third child with her. According to intelligence emanating from Alina Kabaeva’s secret home in Switzerland the pregnancy is an unplanned one. Well, life is this part of the world is always glamorous
Another very important name that should find mention in this discussion is 44-year-old French President Emmanuel Macron who has just recently to the office after the elections. He was the first major politician who engaged Putin over a phone call and tried to convince him to reconsider his decision to wage a war against Ukraine. Then, when US President Joe Biden called Putin a “butcher” after meeting refugees in Poland, Macron cautioned the world against verbal “escalation” of the war.
Whether it’s Islamic fundamentalism or climate talks, Macron has managed to talk sense and win hearts. He has studied philosophy and public affairs. His 69-year-old wife Brigitte Macron is his former teacher and he married her as soon as he turned 18, and she 43.
When Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro made fun of Macron in a Facebook post, putting the picture of the French First Lady alongside his 37-year-old wife Michelle Bolsonaro, in the aftermath of the Paris climate talks, Macron lashed out at Jair Bolsonaro calling it “extraordinarily rude” and “sad”.
“He said very disrespectful things about my wife. I have great respect for the Brazilian people and can only hope they soon have a president who is up to the job,” Macron said at a news conference.
Bolsonaro who is a former military officer was enraged at Macron calling the fires in parts of Amazon rain forest as “international crisis” and Bolsonaro’s inability to put out the fire.
After such a power-packed and glamorous “international crisis” from Europe, does the world have time for the crisis in the Horn of Africa to call a global crisis? (IPA Service)
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