Donors warn against curbs on al-Shabaab

Kenya is urging the UN to list al-Shabaab under the same sanctions as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State – but foreign donors say the move could leave millions in droughtstricken Somalia without aid.

The proposed listing – which could take effect as soon as Thursday – comes at a critical time in Somalia, where 2.2million people, or nearly 18% of the population, face the risk of severe hunger.

Al-Shabaab is already targeted under broader sanctions imposed by the UN on Somalia, which is heavily aid-dependent after three decades of conflict and economic ruin.

Right now, UN agencies and humanitarian organisations are exempt from these sanctions, which enables them to deliver urgent aid without prosecution when they venture into territory controlled by alShabaab.

But Kenya wants to tighten the screws on the jihadist group after several deadly attacks on its soil, and the sanctions regime it proposes would remove that safeguard.

“A measure like this will have the effect of criminalising humanitarian aid,” Refugees International president Eric Schwartz said.

If no member state objects before August 29, the alShabaab listing under Security Council Resolution 1267 will take immediate effect.

Hundreds of millions of aid dollars for Somalia will then be thrown into doubt.

In some cases, foreign donors said they may need to freeze payments for up to a year as they consider how to comply with the new sanctions, an aid source in New York liaising with the UN on the issue said.

“We would be operating in a huge grey area.

“As humanitarian actors, we would have this huge dilemma of carrying on providing aid, or we stop altogether,” the official at a large global charity said.

Another concern is that banks, fearing repercussions, could limit financial services to humanitarian agencies working in Somalia.

The looming deadline has sparked a flurry of lobbying at Security Council headquarters in New York.

Exemptions from sanctions are extremely rare, the International Peace Institute pointed out in a June paper.