The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has pulled out of large parts of southern Somalia because of threats from powerful Islamist rebel groups.

The WFP says the partial suspension of its operations will affect about one million people.

The al-Shabab militant group has repeatedly threatened the WFP – who it accuses of ruining local farming by forcing Somalis to rely on imports.

The WFP says without help, Somali farmers cannot supply enough food.

Drought and war has left more than 109,000 young children dependent on the feeding centres run by the WFP.

But late last year al-Shabab, which controls large parts of southern Somalia, gave the WFP a deadline of 1 January to halt all of its operations in the area.

The group also issued a string of demands for aid agencies working in the region.

The WFP’s Peter Smerdon said these included removing women from their jobs and a demand for a payment of $20,000 every six months for security.

“WFP’s humanitarian operations in southern Somalia have been under escalating attacks from armed groups, leading to this partial suspension of humanitarian food distributions in much of southern Somalia,” the agency said in a statement.

Somalia has been in turmoil since 1991 when its central government collapsed.

The transitional government, helped by an African Union peacekeeping force, runs only parts of Mogadishu.

Most of southern Somalia is controlled by groups such as al-Shabab who want to impose a hard-line interpretation of Islamic law on the country.

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BBC

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