Washington, January 05: Attacks by al Qaeda-linked rebels led to a suspension of food distribution in large swathes of Somalia that left one million people without aid, the UN food agency said today.
“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 for the World Food Program (WFP) to continue reaching up to one million people in need in southern Somalia,” it said in a statement.
Somalia has been plagued by almost uninterrupted civil conflict since the 1991 ousting of then-president Mohamed Siad Barre.
It is often described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The radical Islamist insurgent group al Shabaab, whose leader last year proclaimed allegiance to al Qaeda, has overrun and looted several key U.N. compounds in southern Somalia in recent weeks.
In the areas they control, the Shabaab have also imposed strict conditions on foreign humanitarian organisations that effectively prohibit their operations.
“WFP is deeply concerned about rising hunger and suffering among the most vulnerable due to these unprecedented and inhumane attacks on purely humanitarian operations,” the statement said.
—Agencies