Al-Shabaab ban on aid outfits leaves 1.4m Somalis starving

Over 1.4 million Somalis face starvation after the Al-Shabaab banished 16 humanitarian organisations from Southern Somalia.

The United Nations and its refugee agency, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warned that millions of displaced Somalis faced a humanitarian crisis after the militants expelled the aid agencies.

The agencies were accused of collaborating with the Kenyan military and the Transitional Federal Government troops in running Al-Shabaab out of their bases in southern Somalia.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described as brazen the seizure of property and equipment of the aid agencies.

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos also warned that famine could return to some drought-hit areas.

Separately, the refugees agency warned that the ban had placed the lives of millions of Somalia people in danger.

“More than two thirds of Somalia’s estimated 1.46 million internally displaced people in the south and central parts need immense humanitarian aid,” the agency said in a statement.

The militants accused the aid agencies of conducting activities that did not subscribe to Islamic practices.

Among the organisations expelled are the World Health Organisation, the UN Population Fund, the UN Office for Project Services and the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit.

The refugees commissioner reported that over 500 people, including children were walking from the towns of Beles Qooqaani, Tabta and Afmadow towards Dobley without food.

Federal president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed termed the terrorist group “an enemy” of the Somali people.

The president also urged the United Nations to lift an arms embargo imposed on the war-torn country in 1992 so his government can set up military bases in areas captured by Kenyan troops and their allies.

Meanwhile, Kenya on Tuesday received a top Al-Shabaab commander who defected from the terrorist outfit in Busar, one of the liberated towns.

Kenya military spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir said the middle level commander was assisting them with “valuable information regarding the enemy. He has told us that there are many of his colleagues who want to surrender but fear that they may be victimized by the federal government. We are encouraging them to surrender,” said Major Chirchir.

Meanwhile, a senior Al-Shabaab official said on Tuesday that the International Committee of the Red Cross, medical aid charity MSF and Italy’s Copi were not banned.