Somalia's al-Shabab militants close UN aid offices

[xiinfaniin]

28 Nov 28, 2011 - 7:22:44 AM

 

Al-Shabab fighters have closed down several aid agencies working in famine-hit Somalia, including some from the UN, accusing them of political bias.

 

Militants stormed aid offices in the towns of Baidoa and Beledweyne, which like many southern areas are controlled by al-Shabab, witnesses say.

 

Al-Shabab has long restricted the work of international aid groups but on Monday banned 16 groups outright.

 

Years of conflict mean Somalia is worst hit by the East African drought.

 

The lack of rain is said to be the worst in 60 years.

 

The list of groups banned outright included the United Nations refugee agency and other UN bodies, the British charity Concern and groups from Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Sweden.

 

The al-Shabab statement accused the groups of exaggerating the scale of the problems in Somalia for political reasons and to raise money.

 

It also alleges that the agencies are working with church groups trying to convert vulnerable Muslim children and opposing al-Shabab's attempts to impose Sharia law.

 

"Three armoured vehicles with gunmen surrounded the offices, including the office of [uN children's agency] Unicef," Baidoa resident Adulahi Idle told the AFP news agency.

 

"I saw many militiamen go inside the places and force the people there to leave and the men took control."

 

A senior al-Shabab official told the BBC that those groups which had been closed down had not carrying out many activities, and that the measures would not increase the suffering of ordinary people.

 

He also pointed out that three groups - the International Committee of the Red Cross, medical aid charity MSF and Italy's Copi - would still be allowed to operate.

 

The UN says the areas worst effected by famine are in the southern and central areas, which are under the control of the al-Qaeda linked group.

 

The UN-backed government only runs a few areas, including the capital, Mogadishu, which al-Shabab forces withdrew from in August.

 

Earlier this month, the UN said that famine conditions no longer existed in three of the areas previously worst affected - Bay, Bakool, and Lower Shabelle.

 

However, a quarter of a million people still face imminent starvation in the country, the UN says.

 

UN humanitarian affairs co-ordinator Mark Bowden told the BBC: "Somalia still remains the world's most critical situation."

 

Three other areas, including the squalid camps in the capital, Mogadishu, remain in a state of famine.

 

However, a senior aid worker familiar with the situation in Somalia who did not wish to be named told the BBC that the situation was still getting worse.

 

He said the UN could not admit this because it had to show the aid money was being well spent and having an impact.

 

Other aid workers have also warned that the situation could be worsened through conflict.

 

Kenya has sent troops into southern parts of Somalia, accusing al-Shabab of abducting Westerners from border areas - charges denied by the militants.

 

Tens of thousands of Somalis have fled rural areas - many over the borders to Ethiopia and Kenya - in search of food.

 

Somalia has not had a functioning central government for more than 20 years and has been wracked by fighting between various militias.

 

Source:BBC News

[xiinfaniin]

However, a senior aid worker familiar with the situation in Somalia who did not wish to be named told the BBC that the situation was still getting worse.

[The Zack]

And some prefer them over the temp Kenyans. Shabaab are trying to mass-murder the civilians by starving them to death.

[xiinfaniin]

Kenyans AND Ethiopians are worse , The Zack

[The Zack]

xiinfaniin;761801 wrote:

Kenyans

AND

Ethiopians are worse , The Zack

In your opinion, Sheekh Xiin .

 

I am sure the very ill mother in Diinsoor disagrees with you today, The only clinic in that town has been closed today by Shabaab. She has no where to go for medications, she has no where to take her child too, I am also pretty sure that the starving children in Lower-Shabeele will not agree with you today. Their only feeder, international aid provider, has been kicked out. They have no food today, Mr. Xiin. They can't go to the Kaah restaurant in the 24 Mall (I have been there this past Saturday) or the Quruxlow restaurant at Lake St. and Cedar. Their options are limited, sir. In fact, unlike you and I, they have no options.

[xiinfaniin]

The Zack,

I am not at all comfortable with the predicament you've described there . And I have great sympathy for the suffering of the innocent.

 

But obviously you conveniently chose to comment on the periphery of the matter. The matter is greater than closing clinics or halting aid delivery, it is about the looming war. And it is that war which you're fully in support of that is disrupting the lives of the innocent or making their situation worse. Aid groups, ya The Zack, predicted as much. Aid groups based their opposition against Kenya and Ethiopian invasion on the very lines of arguments you are referring to awoowe.

[The Zack]

How do you have sympathy for these people if you are against everything that would keep their lives intact? These people need their clinics NOW, Xiin, not 2 years or 4 years later. These people need their normal human lives back TODAY, not some unknown time in the future.

 

I understand that you believe that Somalis should resolve their problems internally ( SO DO I) but is that possible today? Really? If you say yes, please explain. In my point of view, Somalia needs help, it needs help from the world. Somalia needs Uganda, Somalia needs Burundi, Somalia needs Turkey, and Somalia needs Kenya. Do we wish we needed these countries? Hell no! but do we need them? HECK YEA!

 

I am basing my support on the same (and many other similar) stories I mentioned in my previous post. What are you basing your support for Shabaab on?

[Abtigiis]

Actually, the Alshabab are doing better in tackling famine than the UN and the NGOs. Look at this facts: 6 regions were in famine catagory since August. Of these, 3 had been largely off-limit areas to humanitarians (Bay, Bakool and Middle Shabelle). UN and NGOs had better access in Mogadishu, Lower Jubba and Agoye IDPs. By November, three areas go out of famine catgory. Guess which ones? Bay, Bakool and M.Shabelle. Latest nutrition surveys show famine situation in Mogadishu IDPs (totally accessible) and where alledgely 500,000 people were fed every month by WFP alone. The working fifgure for the IDPs was 385,000. Now, a UN-sponsored survey shows there are only 180,000 IDPs (even this with a very inflated household size of 7.2 for IDP families -something that borders impossibility, given that IDP HH size is usually below the national avergae for non-displaced families).

 

Now, the spin is underway under the slogan "to make sense of the new IDP figures vis-a-vis humaniatarian assistance provided so far Vs nutrition survey results". It is a total farce.

 

Abu-Mansoor's policy of giving assistance to those who came to Baidoa and returning them immeditely to their farms led to bumper harvest and low food prices in few months times. Zack, if the UN and NGOs go out of Somalia today, no one will die because of that withdrawal.

 

Last year, Somalia (according to the UN books) received 1 billion in humanitarian aid. Does it look like a country that got that much? No.

 

Alshabab have better policy of feeding the people than the UN and NGos which inflate beneficiary numbers, and trigger displacement by creating IDP settlements. Everyone in Mogadishu knows that most IDP settlements are fake and are created by people benefitting from the humanitarian industry.

[xiinfaniin]

The Zack,

 

Unless you are equating my opposition to Kenyan and Ethiopian invasions to support for Alshabaab, my stance on Alshabaab is clear. This forum is of full threads expounding the un-sustainability of Alshabaab approach. That does not mean however that Kenyan and Ethiopian invasion is better alternative than Alshabaab rule. I do not subscribe the illogicality, uttered by some, that espouses that anything is better than Alshabaab.

 

The rest of what you wrote warrants no further response

[omar12]

Alshabab are slimy scum that should be put death. They know nothing of Islam.

[Gabbal]

Oh God, can it get any more nauseating than Xiinfaniin's self-righteous blabber? Waa gartiis walle iyo bille. I just do not comprehend the individuals that continue to validate his unneeded, unaffected, and irrelevant opinions about real life local problems that do not impact him in any way apart from some veneer of Somali identity-hood that has been shown to be bankrupt for some time now.

 

Where are the voices of Diinsoor? Where are the voices of the people who have substantive links to the places in question whether by residency, clan, or family links? Why are the voices of those with real-life materialized links and impacted by these local concerns on a personal level? Enough is enough. The man and many others have zero credibility to be relevant in the discourse as it relates to what is good or not good for local people with real life local concerns.

 

Stop entertaining this charade.

[Abtigiis]

Gabbal,

 

I always thought Xinn's problem was 'infallibility syndrome' and addiction to 'consistency'. Now I know I was very generous to the man. He is a rank and file man. Of that, have no doubt! :D

[Gabbal]

Many do protest a tad too much for their own liking, but you will find, my friend, beyond the cloak stands a naked whipping boy. I do not even want to persist in personalizing the issue, but generally I must say will the voices of Diinsoor, Baydhabo, and Beled-Weyne please stand up...!

 

By now you would think one of the biggest supporters of federalism would realize the right of first person.

[xiinfaniin]

Nothing new in Gabal's livid words towards Xiin.

 

If he is looking for the voices of Baardheere, Luuq and Diinsoor, he shall look no further than MMA . And MMA has never been fond of foreign troops and the unending justifications Gabal & Abtigiis make for them to reach a political station whose muscles and skills they otherwise lack .

 

What is new (actually astonishing) is Abtigis's shame in supporting Ethiopia and her ambitions towards Somalia in the name of Alshabaab opposition.

[Thankful]

However, a senior aid worker familiar with the situation in Somalia who did not wish to be named told the BBC that the situation was still getting worse............He said the UN could not admit this because it had to show the aid money was being well spent and having an impact.

Strange that this unnamed senior aid worker believes this, because usually people/agencies over emphasis how dire and deadly a situation is in order to gain more funds and help.

 

I don't think things could get worse then they were under Al Shabaab, we saw the worst drought in something like 50 years and one of the biggest exodus.

 

Just like Mogadishu - when Al Shabaab is pushed out of an area, whether by Somalis or foreign foces - things get better!