Al-Shabaab bans Red Cross in Somalia

Jan 31, 2012, 10:28 GMT

Johannesburg - Islamist militia al-Shabaab has announced it is barring the International Committee of the Red Cross from carrying out any relief work in Somalia, alleging that the aid group distributed expired food.

The ICRC was the last major international aid agency allowed to operate in areas of southern Somalia controlled by the radical rebel group. Those districts were also the hardest hit by last year's drought and food shortages.

The 'ICRC betrayed the trust conferred on it by (the) local population,' al-Shabaab announced in a statement released late Monday, claiming that '70 per cent of the food stored for distribution was deemed unfit for human consumption.'

ICRC officials declined to comment on the charges until they could complete an investigation.

On January 12, the Red Cross announced it had temporarily suspended a key food distribution programme in Somalia, which helps 1.1 million people. The group said it was not being permitted to distribute food supplies by 'local authorities' in the areas ruled by al-Shabaab.

ICRC supplies are regularly transported on trucks to remote areas where people are in dire need of relief supplies. The UN estimates 250,000 people still face possible starvation and millions are in need of humanitarian aid.

Last year, one of the ICRC's truck shipments got stuck on mud roads during heavy rainfall and some of the supplies were believed to have been damaged.

Nearly all major international aid agencies have been banned from al-Shabaab areas, with the group accusing the aid organizations of having a political agenda.

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