West also to blame for famine

The famine in the Horn of Africa may be home-made but the West is by no means entirely free of blame for the disaster, writes the liberal daily Dagens Nyheter: "Without reliable institutions, without a functioning market for agricultural products, without financial institutions that can provide capital and without a functioning physical infrastructure, droughts will lead to famine time and again. The brunt of the responsibility lies with those in power and those struggling for power in the affected regions. But the distortion of competition resulting from the huge subsidies for the European and American agricultural sectors makes it more difficult for African farmers to make a profit with their products. This is a disgrace."

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