Millions in Somalia are hungry and the world is trying to help but Somalia's Al Shabaab rebels are having none of it -
Millions in Somalia are hungry and the world is trying to help but Somalia's Al Shabaab rebels are having none of it.
A famine has been declared in southern Somalia and the United Nations World Food Program is sending tons of food but the Islamic extremist insurgents of Al Shabaab are blocking the aid. The rebels have burned food and medicine and killed charity workers as part of their long-running campaign against international aid groups, according to a U.N. report.
The U.N. and the United States blamed Al Shabaab, which is allied to Al Qaeda, for worsening the food crisis in Somalia, where famine has been declared in two regions largely controlled by the militants.
"The single greatest obstacle to humanitarian assistance in Somalia during the course of the mandate has consistently been the denial of access by armed opposition groups, principally by elements of Al Shabaab," stated the U.N. report, according to Reuters.
The report said some U.N. agencies working in Somalia suspected local organizations they funded and funnelled supplies through were paying money to Al Shabaab, which the group called "taxes."
The report details incidents in which Al Shabaab officers demanded bribes from U.N. and aid agency officials to allow them to work in rebel areas and, in some cases, the rebels burned food stocks and medicine when cash was not paid.
Al Shabaab surprised aid groups in the region this month when they pledged to reverse a ban on food aid that they imposed in 2010, but they later said embargoes against the U.N. food agency, WFP, and some major aid agencies would remain.
Political analysts in the region say that the famine declaration has put the rebels in a difficult position.
They may need to open their regions to food aid for fear of a public backlash if they do not, but some of Al Shabaab's most hardline leaders do not want to permit Western organizations to distribute food in their territory.
Somalia's famine is "very, very urgent" said famous Somali model, Iman, who urged that the international aid agency, Save the Children, be permitted to distribute food. Children are suffering severe malnutrition and need
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