What a noble idea; starve those who you wish to control.
Unbelievable.
And the aid groups can do nothing except watch as people die. The UN is trying but there will be mass death in the coming weeks as Al-Shabab chokes off any humanitarian help. No food, medicine, hygiene supplies or clothing will be forthcoming, the trek out of the affected areas can take days if not weeks, at which point many just lay down by the side of the road and quietly expire.
How can anyone see Islam as a compassionate religion when Muslims see fit to treat other Muslims as so much fodder for their schemes is beyond me.
From News.com.au July 25
UN urges 'massive' action on famine
THE United Nations urged a "massive" effort to save millions of people in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa, as France said donor countries would meet in Nairobi this week to step up aid pledges.
"The catastrophic situation demands massive and urgent international aid," Jacques Diouf, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said at the start of emergency talks on the crisis his agency is hosting in Rome today.
"It is imperative to stop the famine," said Diouf, after the United Nations declared a famine in two insurgent-held areas of southern Somalia.
And the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) announced at the talks that it would begin an airlift of food aid into the Somali capital Mogadishu on Tuesday.
An estimated 3.7 million people in Somalia - around a third of the population - are on the brink of starvation and millions more in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda have been struck by the worst drought in the region in 60 years.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to donor countries to come up immediately with $1.48 billion in aid for Somalia alone.
French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire said at the meeting that donor countries would hold talks in Nairobi on Wednesday.
"If we don't take the necessary measures, famine will be the scandal of this century," Le Maire said. He also berated the international community for having "failed" to ensure food security in a world affected by climate change.
UN officials say the drought has killed tens of thousands of people in recent months, forcing hundreds of thousands of desperate survivors from the worst-affected areas of Somalia to walk for weeks in search of food and water.
"If we don't act now, this famine will spread to the rest of Somalia and neighbouring countries," said Valerie Amos, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
"We must respond now, before it gets worse. This will not be a short crisis, it will go on for at least six months," she said.
The key challenge for aid groups has been reaching parts of southern Somalia held by the Al Qaeda-inspired Islamist militia group Shebab, which has banned WFP and other international humanitarian agencies from operating on its territory.
"The fundamental cause of the famine that has so suddenly created devastation for the Somali people is the fragility of the state and the enduring conflict," Somali Deputy Prime Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told the conference.
"More than 3.5 million Somalis, the vast majority of them in the insurgent-held areas, may starve to death unless emergency aid reaches them in the next few weeks," he said.
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