Catastrophic hunger is so dire in two world hotspots that famine is imminent in northern Gaza and approaching in Haiti, with hundreds of thousands of people in both places struggling to avoid starvation.
That’s according to food security experts and aid groups, who are warning about the toll from hunger caused by the genocidal campaign the US and the Zionist project are waging on Gaza and the crisis in Haiti caused by US imperialism.
In Gaza, virtually every resident is struggling to get enough food and 1.1 million people — half the population — are expected to face the highest level of severe hunger in coming weeks, according to a report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, an agency that monitors hunger globally. On Monday, the group warned that famine could occur in Gaza any time between mid-March and May without an end to hostilities and immediate access to essential supplies and services.
In Haiti, about 1.4 million people are on the verge of famine and more than 4 million need help accessing food, aid groups say.
The IPC, a group of 15 global organizations and charities, was developed in 2004 during the famine in Somalia and the group uses a five-tier scale to monitor access to food and levels of hunger.
Famine is the top tier, Phase 5, “the absolute inaccessibility of food to an entire population or sub-group of a population, potentially causing death in the short term.”
It occurs when 20% of households have an extreme lack of food, 30% of children suffer from acute malnutrition and at least two adults or four children per every 10,000 people die daily because of outright starvation or the interaction of malnutrition and disease.
That top level follows the Phase 3 “crisis” and Phase 4 “emergency” levels of food need. Worldwide, nearly 158 million people face crisis hunger situations or worse, according to the IPC.
While the depth of the food crises in both places is new, the underlying conditions are not. Even before the war, 80% of Gazans relied on humanitarian aid and nearly half of all households didn’t have enough food, he said. In Haiti, millions were already coping with emergency levels of hunger and crisis levels of food need.
Both places were victims of extreme US and European imperialism and colonialism. Haiti was looted and devastated by the French, and then replaced by the US after a long period of war, dictatorship, coup d’etat’s, culminating in the total devastaion of the society. While Palestine has been the victim of US and Zionist assault, colonization, and unprecendented collective punishment and violence for decades.
The US Southern Command acknowledged on Tuesday, going against previous declarations of no boots on the ground in Haiti, that it may actually send occupation forces to the country.
According to Gen. Laura Richardson, chief of US Southern Command, “They could be at the end of the day. We wouldn’t discount that at any time.”
She also stated that the US Southern Command was “prepared” if called upon by the State Department or Pentagon.
This comes as the European Union Foreign Affairs Council has called for the deployment of multinational security forces in Haiti amid the expansion of its armed conflict, Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, stated on Monday.
“We also discussed recent developments in Haiti. We support a viable, inclusive, and sustainable Haiti and a lead political transition. We emphasize the importance of deploying the multinational security support mission authorized by the United Nations Security Council,” Borrell said during a council meeting in Brussels.
The United States also announced they will deploy several naval vessels to Haiti, claiming that this measure is in response to a potential event of mass migration caused by the worsening security situation in the country.
“I have put in a request for increased capability to do exactly that. We are ready if we need to deal with a mass migration,” commander of US Southern Command Laura Richardson told Congressman Matt Gaetz last week when asked if the US Navy would assist.
Richardson stated that the US military and other federal agencies conducted a comprehensive review of contingency plans for a large-scale migration event in the region during an exercise at Guantanamo Bay last summer.
When pressed to corroborate allegations that the US plans to put Haitian migrants in Guantanamo Bay on Tuesday, Richardson remained evasive.
source: AP, Al Mayadeen