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| Africa Horn |
| Shabaab ban WFP in Somalia |
| 2010-03-03 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Somali insurgents on Monday barred the World Food Program from the famine and war-plagued Horn of Africa country, where the United Nations says four million people, half the population, needs emergency food aid. The al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab movement, which controls most of central and southern Somalia, said food distributed by the U.N. agency had undermined local farmers and accused it of acting with a political agenda. The group accused the Rome-based agency of distributing food that was past its expiry date, which had caused people to fall ill, and alleged that its operations was disguised support for the weak U.N.-backed transitional government. "Given the problems caused by the food WFP distributed, the movement of Shabaab al-Mujahideen banned the operations of the agency in Somalia generally starting from today," the group said in a statement. "The contractors working with WFP must avoid collaborating with the agency otherwise anyone working with the agency will be seen as serving the interest of WFP," the group said. The Shabaab said they had received complaints from Somali farmers that the quantity of the WFP food aid prevented them from selling their own products at a fair price. WFP Africa spokesman Peter Smerdon said that the organization remained determined to help up to one million people who are in need of food aid in southern Somalia, "as long as it is safe for our staff to do so." The WFP announced in January that it was suspending its operations in southern Somalia citing months of attacks and extortion by insurgents. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 "...the U.N. agency had undermined local farmers..." I don't normally defend the UN, but this statement is flat wrong. It is Islam that undermines farmers by charging a 10 percent "ushr" tax ("a relic of barbarism") on crops. While Shabaab types are skimming off the tops of local farms, the U.S. gives its own farmers crop subsidies. For a variety of reasons, if you were a farmer who could live in Somalia or America, which would you choose? |
| Posted by: American Delight 2010-03-03 06:34 |