A couple months ago, the World Food Programme expressed concern that a food shortage in Somalia would be greatly exacerbated by threats and attacks from militant groups– specifically from al-Shabaab– making it extremely challenging to deliver the necessary food.
Now, the Washington Post and other news agencies report that these same Somali Islamists have banned the UN food altogether:
Trucks carrying food aid have not been allowed to pass through a checkpoint in the Afgooye corridor near the capital of Mogadishu for the past two weeks, WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon said.
Afgooye has the largest concentration of displaced people in the country. It is nominally controlled by the insurgent group Hizbul Islam but allied Islamist group al-Shabab also operates roadblocks there. On Sunday, al-Shabab prohibited WFP from distributing food in areas under its control because it says the food undercuts farmers selling recently harvested crops.
“Somali farmers are having a hard time selling their produce because WFP distributes food aid across the regions and that is demoralizing,” an al-Shabab statement said. “The organization has been completely banned.”
The New York Times has a look at some recent tension between the United Nations and the US regarding aid restrictions in Somalia over growing concerns that the aid is not being responsibly distributed.
UN official Mark Bowden claims that accusations of aid diversions in to the Shabab– who the US government has labeled a terrorist group– are unfounded. The US for its part contends that aid is indeed being diverted, leaving the Shabab to blame for Somalis not getting the aid they need.
You’ll recall that early last month that threats from the Shabab proved to be a serious impediment to the World Food Programme who then had to implement a partial suspension of food distribution in much of southern Somalia.
CNN is reporting this morning that threats and attacks from militant groups have made it nearly impossible for the World Food Program to effectively deliver food to hungry Somalians, leading to “a partial suspension food distribution in much of southern Somalia.” This puts over a million people in that area at serious risk. You can read the full report here.
“WFP is deeply concerned about rising hunger and suffering among the most vulnerable due to these unprecedented and inhumane attacks on purely humanitarian operations,” the agency said in a statement.
One of the recent threats to the food agency occurred in late November when Islamist militants in Somalia warned the agency to buy food from Somali farmers or stop sending aid to the impoverished African country.
That threat came from al-Shabaab, a group that has waged a bloody insurgency against the U.N.-backed government of transitional President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
Four of the agency’s staff members were killed in Somalia between August 2008 and January 2009.
Despite difficulties in southern Somalia, the agency says it is still dispensing food in the capital city Mogadishu and several other areas.
The agency says it is still able to reach more than 60 percent of those in need or about 1.8 million people.
When you have a few minutes, I highly recommend this video produced by the New York Times. It tells the story of 37-year-old Mohamed Aden who for the last year has served as the leader of the small town of Adado, Somalia. He only recently returned to Somalia after spending roughly 16 years in Minnesota where he earned a college degree at Minnesota State, while supporting himself by parking cars and working in a factory.
His return to Somalia, and his attempts to maintain a fragile peace and support development efforts in his village are truly fascinating. You can watch the full video by clicking the image below:
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Many of you are following news reports of a hijacking that recently occurred aboard the Maersk Alabama off the coast of Somalia. Today comes word that some of the cargo aboard the ship is life-saving food aid en route to Catholic Relief Services programs in Rwanda. According to CRS, this consists of 49 containers holding “860 metric tons of bulgur wheat that are to be used by CRS relief workers for some of the poorest populations in Rwanda.”
Our thoughts go out to the crew aboard the Maersk Alabama in this very tense situation. We’ll bring you further developments as they occur.
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