Militant Threats, Attacks Cut Off One Million Somalis From UN Food Aid

Escalating attacks from armed groups have led the World Food Program, or WFP, to suspend operations that would reach one million in need in southern Somalia, the U.N. agency said in a statement released yesterday.

The organization reported that “rising threats and attacks on humanitarian operations, as well as the imposition of a string of unacceptable demands from armed groups, have
made it virtually impossible” to continue work in the area vastly under the control of the rebel group al-Shabaab.

According to WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon, the militant group demanded the payment of $20,000 every six months for security as well as the cessation of food imports in favor of purchase from Somali farmers. Members of al-Shabaab later demanded that the agency and its contractors end activities in the area on January 1, 2010. A Shabaab spokesman recently said the rebel group did not demand payment from the WFP.

The WFP says it is pre-positioning supplies and staff to provide assistance to any population movement following the suspension but is “deeply concerned about rising hunger and suffering among the most vulnerable (…).” The agency’s work continues in the rest of the country, reaching an estimated 1.8 million hungry people.

The latest report from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre raised the alarm about a deteriorating security situation across the country that is spurring a domino effect of negative developments that leave Somalia’s 1.5 million displaced people at ever-worsening risk. Here’s an excerpt from the report’s overview:

The security situation has deteriorated since May 2009 due to intensified clashes between government forces and insurgents, causing civilian causalities, injuries and population dis-placement. Humanitarian and human rights organisations continue to report displacements, child recruitment, attacks, sexual violence, and efforts to protect IDPs and provide humani-tarian assistance have been ineffective.

Humanitarian agency staff and property continue to be directly targeted. In July 2009, Al-Shabaab demanded that three UN agencies stop operating in areas under its control; in November the group ordered the World Food Programme to stop importing food and start buying from Somali farmers, even though such a system would lead to even greater food insecurity. Meanwhile, some donors have significantly reduced humanitarian funding in 2009 for fear that it is being diverted to extremist groups, affecting the capacity of most UN agencies.

As the report notes, the bright spot in generally gloomy state of affairs is that the government signed two key international conventions last year aimed at dealing with internally displaced people and the rights of children, but in light of the current conditions on the ground, IDMC stated that meeting those commitments will be “impossible in the short term.”

Laura Heaton contributed to this post.

Photo: Women and children share a meal.

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