Red Cross forced to suspend food distributions in Somalia

Jan 12, 2012, 12:25 GMT

Johannesburg/Nairobi - The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday it had temporarily suspended a key food distribution programme in Somalia, which helps 1.1 million people.

The ICRC said it was forced to make the move 'after having its food and seed relief commodities blocked in parts of central and southern Somalia.'

The humanitarian aid group said 'local authorities' were preventing the distributions in Middle Shabelle and Galgaduud regions. The ICRC declined to name who exactly was causing the trouble.

According to observers, parts of those regions are controlled by Islamist group al-Shabaab, which has repeatedly banned some aid groups from working in areas it dominates and has placed restrictions on the ones it allows to carry out relief missions.

'The suspension will continue until we receive assurances from the authorities controlling those areas that distributions can take place unimpeded and reach all those in need, as previously agreed,' said Patrick Vial, the ICRC chief in Somalia.

The Red Cross is one of the few major international aid groups able to work in all regions of Somalia, which suffered from a severe drought for much of 2011.

The agency is currently rolling out a massive distribution programme, meant to deliver food to the hungry and seeds and other agricultural products to farmers, so that they can plant and help the local economy rebound.

The drought, combined with 20 years of ongoing civil war, worsened the humanitarian disaster in the country, which lacks a fully functioning central government.

Tens of thousands died last year and hundreds of thousands fled the country, according to the United Nations.