Working with local organisations could help get humanitarian aid to the famine-striken areas of Somalia under the control of al-Shabaab, says Somali NGO forum
Large international aid agencies should work through local NGOs in Somalia to ensure that supplies reach areas controlled by al-Shabaab, the Islamist insurgents, Somalis based in London said on Thursday.
Somalia is the worst affected country in the east Africa crisis that has left more than 11 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. The UN last week declared a state of famine in two areas of southern Somalia, largely under the control of al-Shabaab: Bakool and Lower Shabelle.
Some areas of Mogadishu are also under the control of al-Shabaab, which is considered a terrorist group by the US because of its links with al-Qaida. On Thursday, AP reported that African Union forces killed six people in an offensive aimed at protecting famine relief efforts from attacks by the militants. Al-Shabaab fighters have already killed men who tried to escape the famine with their families, saying it is better to starve than accept help from the west.
Amid renewed fighting in the capital, the Somali Relief and Development Forum – an umbrella group of nine Somali NGOs – urged international relief agencies to tap local expertise to funnel aid to distressed groups in the country despite instability on the ground.
"There are divisions within al-Shabaab and there are Somali NGOs that are able to work around al-Shabaab and bypass them, but there is hardly any international engagement with these local NGOs," said Mustakim Waid, a spokesman for the forum, which is about to launch a drought appeal.
The UN's World Food Programme has said it cannot reach more than 2 million Somalis now facing starvation in the areas controlled by al-Shabaab. WFP officials say they will try to access the al-Shabaab areas over the next week, but that they will consider dropping food from aircraft as a last resort if they cannot.
A UN report obtained by Reuters said some UN agencies working in Somalia suspected local organisations they funded and funnelled supplies through were paying money to al-Shabaab, which the group called "taxes".
The report details incidents of al-Shabaab officers demanding bribes from UN and aid agency officials to allow them to work in rebel areas and, in some cases, burning food stocks and medicine when cash was not paid out.
"The single greatest obstacle to humanitarian assistance in Somalia during the course of the mandate has consistently been the denial of access by armed opposition groups, principally by elements of al-Shabaab," Reuters quotes the report as saying. The UN monitoring group report on Somalia and Eritrea paints a picture of intimidation against aid groups going back as far as 2008.
Since January, a combination of drought and insecurity in Somalia has driven more than 96,000 Somalis into Kenya, more than 74,000 into Ethiopia and around 2,500 into Djibouti – countries that are themselves suffering from the worst drought to hit the region in 60 years, according to the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. Refugees are dying of causes related to malnutrition either during the journey or shortly after arrival at aid camps.
The drought and famine have deepened discord among al-Shabaab leaders that has been apparent for some time. Some have supported a lifting of the ban on operations of international aid agencies, while others, such as its top commander, Ahmed Cabdi Godane, reportedly opposed the move on the grounds that NGOs might provide intelligence for US drone air strikes.
Last week, an al-Shabaab spokesman, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, accused the UN of ulterior motives, and said that there was no famine. Some clan elders in affected areas have criticised Godane for not allowing aid agencies through despite their full support for al-Shabaab. Waid suggested that international agencies should engage such elders through local NGOs as part of the effort to get help through to Somalis.
"Al-Shabaab is crumbling from the inside," said Waid. "Some are trying to get food aid in, others taking a hard line, stopping people from leaving the areas they control."
International NGOs in Somalia face heavy restrictions on their activities but one group, Islamic Relief, perhaps has more freedom than others. It has been working within a 30-mile radius of the capital, Mogadishu, but has been able to travel deeper into central and southern Somalia on an assessment mission and is confident it can swiftly step up its existing operation to reach more people.
Amid fears that the drought will get worse before the rains in September and October, the UN is intensifying efforts to raise money. The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday telephoned top officials from Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He told them that only half of the $2bn needed for the emergency has been raised so far.
"The people of Somalia – both those facing risk, vulnerability or displaced inside the country and the thousands who are outside as refugees – have never needed protection and humanitarian assistance with the urgency that we have today," said George Okoth-Obbo, director of the UNHCR's Africa Bureau.
Source: The Guardian
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