Al-Shabaab jihadists preventing aid from reaching 2.2 million Somalis

Al-Shabaab jihadists preventing aid from reaching 2.2 million Somalis


According to al-Shabaab, there's no famine. And that's that. There are surely some macabre calculations on the part of the jihadists: fewer people to fight and control, and fewer people with the physical wherewithal even to complain. They will starve the country to starve out the resistance to their taking over. "Al-Shabab prevents aid from reaching 2.2M Somalis," by Jason Straziuso for the Associated Press, July 23:

DADAAB, Kenya (AP) — The World Food Program can't reach 2.2 million Somalis in desperate need of aid in militant-controlled areas of Somalia, WFP's director said Saturday, meaning refugee camps in nearby Kenya and Ethiopia are likely to continue seeing thousands of new refugees each week.
The needs of those in Somalia's expanding famine zone are extraordinary, prompting parents to sweep up their small children and start a dangerous walk that can last days or weeks — one that many die on. Livestock have perished, and crops no longer grow after consecutive rains failed to fall in south-central Somalia.
The journey is so long and so perilous that few Somalis are eager to return to their war-torn homeland, a facet of the dual crisis of the Somalia conflict and Horn of Africa famine that has Kenyan officials — who are only reluctantly accepting more refugees — in a bind.
Josette Sheeran, the executive director of WFP, traveled to eastern Kenya on Saturday to visit the drought-stricken town of Garissa and the world's largest refugee camp, Dadaab. Sheeran talked with refugees who just completed the perilous trek from Somalia, and asked if they would consider returning if conditions improve.
"I walked 25 days to get here. I have no money," a translator quoted a refugee as telling Sheeran. He said he had passed many others on the sandy route to Dadaab who dropped off the pace and never made it here. "He said he can't go back anytime soon."
So many people are in need in Somalia because the militant group al-Shabab won't let aid in. The group, in fact, denies a famine is taking place, disputing the U.N.'s view that tens of thousands of people have already died.
WFP can't operate without the militant's permission; 14 WFP employees have been killed there since 2008. Sheeran called Somalia "the riskiest environment we operate in the world today."
Al-Shabab signaled in early July that it would accept aid groups it had previously banned, but changed course on Thursday, saying groups like WFP are not welcome. The group's refusal to accept aid from Western and "Christian" aid groups means millions could starve — or be forced to begin the hike to help to Kenya, Ethiopia or Mogadishu, the Somali capital, which is also being overwhelmed with refugees....