An Entire Generation at Risk : Without more U.N. intervention, Somalia will starve itself to death

Hard rains have dampened hope and prompted an increase in deaths in Somalia. The bad weather halted at least 10 humanitarian flights to four rural villages. The downpours also washed across thousands of fresh corpses, spreading germs that could contaminate drinking water and cause cholera.

The United Nations has sent in soldiers and is proposing to dispatch 3,000 more. They are needed immediately to fight a natural and political disaster of mammoth proportions, one that threatens an entire nation.

Despite prolonged drought, the cold downpours brought little relief; few farmers have seeds for planting or any living crops in the soil. The rains also washed away dirt landing strips in the interior, further complicating the distribution of emergency supplies.

The political disaster of Somalia is the civil war that has plagued the eastern African nation for two years. Gun-toting thugs have stolen tons of relief supplies. More than 800 tons of food disappeared last week from two Red Cross warehouses near the Somali-Ethiopian border.

Thieves also looted a U.N. World Food Program truck convoy carrying 300 tons of food. That theft has left barren some of the feeding centers, the only oases for the malnourished.

U.N. troops could make a real difference. The last of the first group, 500 Pakistani soldiers, arrived in the capital city Tuesday. They are expected to maintain security at the port, the airport and other key facilities. They are not expected, however, to be able to guard food in the interior.

The United Nations has suggested no timetable for its proposed dispatch of 3,000 more troops. An estimated 40,000 Somalis are armed and ready to fight for their clans. If the self-destructive civil war continues, the victors will not have much left worth fighting about.

Combatting starvation is the only worthy battle in Somalia. The powerful warlords must be persuaded--either by reason or the hard reality that supplies are being protected by heavy-duty U.N. forces--to stop fighting over food that could save starving people.

The United Nations must send in more soldiers quickly, before an entire generation is lost.