A helping hand

Mary Robinson’s presence in Africa this week focused world attention on the famine in Somalia, demonstrating the crucial role the famous play in highlighting the plight of the poor and dispossessed, says Georgina O’Halloran.

HEARTBREAKING images of malnourished children appeared in newspapers, and on our TV screens, this week as former President Mary Robinson travelled to the Horn of Africa to highlight the plight of millions of people affected by drought there.

Food shortages are affecting up to 12m people in parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, in the worst drought in the region in 60 years.