BBC
BBC News Africa
22 July 2011 Last updated at 09:08 GMT
Somali Islamists maintain aid ban and deny famine
A Somali woman weeps for her dead child at Banadir hospital in Mogadishu, July
21, 2011. Many Somali mothers have already seen their children die in the
drought
Somalia's al-Shabab Islamists have denied lifting their ban on 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 aid groups of being political.
Most Western aid agencies quit Somalia in 2009 following al-Shabab threats.
The United Nations World Food Programme was one of those banned.
It says it is planning to airlift food into the capital, Mogadishu, in the
coming days to help the thousands of malnourished children who face starvation
in the country.
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.
Blame game
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".
Continue reading the main story
Extended drought is causing a severe food crisis in the Horn of Africa,
which includes Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia. Weather conditions over
the Pacific means the rains have failed for two seasons and are unlikely to
return until September.
An estimated 10 million people in the region are affected by the drought.
The UN has declared a famine in two areas of southern Somalia, where 30% of
children are acutely malnourished and four children out of every 10,000 are
dying daily.
The humanitarian problem is made worse by ongoing conflicts, which means
that until July militant groups had only allowed aid organisations limited
access to large parts of southern Somalia and eastern Ethiopia.
Since the beginning of 2011, around 15,000 Somalis each month have fled
into refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia looking for food and water. The
refugee camp at Dadaab, in Kenya, has been overwhelmed by an estimated 400,000
people.
Farmers unable to meet their basic food costs are abandoning their herds.
High cereal and fuel prices had already forced them to sell many animals before
the drought and their smaller herds are now unprofitable or dying.
The refugee problem may have been preventable. However, violent conflict in
the region has deterred international investment in long-term development
programmes, which may have reduced the effects of the drought.
Development aid would focus on reducing deforestation, topsoil erosion and
overgrazing and improving water conservation. New roads and infrastructure for
markets would help farmers increase their profits.
The result of climate conditions, conflict and lack of investment is that
6.7 million people in Kenya and Ethiopia are currently existing on food
rations, and relief agencies estimate 2.6 million in Somalia will need
assistance a new emergency operation.
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"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".
More than 166,000 desperate Somalis are estimated to have fled their country to
neighbouring Kenya or Ethiopia.
On Wednesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said $300m (£184m) was needed in
the next two months to provide an adequate response to the areas affected by
famine.
"Children and adults are dying at an appalling rate," he said.
Nearly half the Somali population - 3.7 million people - were in crisis, he
said, with most of them in the south.
These are mostly areas under al-Shabab control.
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