Islamic rebels block aid for starving Somalis

AL-SHABAAB rebels are blocking aid from reaching Somali villages, compounding the effects of the poor rains.

The Islamist group continues to control most rural areas in drought-ravaged southern Somalia and opposes the presence of international aid groups, accusing them of colluding with its arch enemy, the Somali government.

Without access to food, about 160000 people from across the region have walked, sometimes for days, to disease-ridden camps in government-controlled cities where aid is available.

Those who are too weak to make the journey are left at home to teeter on the edge of death.

Although the militia has been weakened and has lost much popular support, in part because of its obstructionism during a famine six years ago in which 250000 people died, it has still launched recent attacks on UN aid agencies.

Thirteen aid workers were kidnapped by al-Shabaab and other local militias in April.

Since the previous famine, government-allied militias together with AU troops have regained control over Baidoa, a city near the centre of the drought. UN agencies and AU troops share a heavily fortified compound next to the city’s airport.

Aid workers travel with hired gunmen when they venture into the camps of displaced people in Baidoa or visit hungry towns.

UN staff often move in bulletproof vehicles with military escorts. Somali aid workers can travel with greater ease, but their association with aid groups makes them targets for al-Shabaab.

“If they caught me, they would kill me,” said a Somali employee of Save the Children, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Al-Shabaab does not just target aid groups, however. The rebels often retaliate against people who flee to Baidoa’s camps, saying they may be divulging details about the militants’ whereabouts to authorities. Many villagers, therefore, are reluctant to return to their homes when conditions improve. – Washington Post