Guardian Reports US Forces Accused Over Somalia Floods as Families Are Pinned in Jilib

The Guardian reports that US forces are accused of “weaponising” Somalia’s floods by trapping women and children in the path of El Niño. The same reporting says coordinated airstrikes on territory held by al-Shabaab are driving the civilian population to find refuge alongside a river where rising water levels are a threat to safety.

In Cayni Ali’s city, Jilib, the water was rising rapidly. It had reached Cayni Ali’s waist; her home stood five metres from the flooded River Juba in southern Somalia, and her home never stood a chance. There was nowhere to go.

Cayni Ali is a mother of six, and Jilib was under attack. According to Cayni Ali, repeated airstrikes were pinning Jilib’s population beside the rising river. For sovereignty-minded voters and critics of elite assurances, this is the cost of distant military action borne by ordinary families.