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Somali jihadists say there’s no famine, deny ever lifting ban on aid groups

Jul 23, 2011 12:49 am By Marisol Seibold

Perhaps they suppose a population sufficiently weakened by hunger will be easier to control. In addition, the idea of having filthy infidels going around performing large-scale acts of mercy and charity is bound to provoke jealousy. It is also bad for business when the people denounced as apes and pigs are the ones with the means and motivation to save lives. “Somali Islamists maintain aid ban and deny famine,” from BBC News, July 22:

Somalia’s al-Shabab Islamists have denied lifting their ban on some Western aid agencies and say UN reports of famine are “sheer propaganda”.

The UN on Wednesday said that parts of Somalia were suffering a famine after the worst drought in 60 years.

A spokesman for al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaeda and controls much of the country, accused the banned groups of being political.

But the UN insists famine exists and it will continue its aid efforts.

Most Western aid agencies quit Somalia in 2009 following al-Shabab’s threats, though some say they have managed to continue operating through local partners.

Some 10 million people are said to need food aid across East Africa but Somalia is by far the worst-affected country, as there is no national government to co-ordinate aid after two decades of fighting.

Thousands of people are fleeing areas under al-Shabab control to camps set up in areas of the capital controlled by the weak interim government, which is battling the Islamist insurgents.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) was one of those banned. […]

The two districts where a famine has been declared – Bakool and Lower Shabelle – are under al-Shabab control and aid agencies have been wary of resuming activities there amid fears for the safety of their staff.

Al-Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage earlier this month announced that aid agencies, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, would be allowed back into Somalia as long as they had “no hidden agenda”.

This had prompted the US to say it was lifting its ban on allowing its food relief into areas controlled by al-Shabab, which it calls a terrorist group.

However, Mr Rage told journalists in Mogadishu on Thursday night: “The agencies we banned are still banned. The agencies were involved in political activities.”

He admitted there was a drought but said reports of a famine were “utter nonsense, 100% baseless and sheer propaganda.

“There is drought in Somalia and shortage of rain but it is not as bad as they put it.”

Rashid Abdi, a Somalia analyst at the International Crisis Group think-tank, told Reuters news agency that al-Shabab were trying to avoid being “seen as people who oversaw a large-scale humanitarian disaster”.

And the infidels would be the ones saving the day. Can’t have that. When al-Shabaab is hungry, however, their tone will likely change.

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Filed Under: Somalia


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