UN cuts Somalia food relief over Islamist threat

[demoleft]

Source: afp

AFP - Attacks by Al Qaeda-linked rebels have led to the suspension of food distributions in large swathes of Somalia, leaving one million people outside the relief net, the UN food agency said Tuesday.

"Rising threats and attacks on humanitarian operations, as well as the imposition of a string of unacceptable demands from armed groups, have made it virtually impossible for the World Food Programme (WFP) to continue reaching up to one million people in need in southern Somalia," it said in a statement.

"WFP's humanitarian operations in southern Somalia have been under escalating attacks from armed groups, leading to this virtual suspension of humanitarian food distribution in much of southern Somalia," it said.

Mired by almost uninterrupted civil conflict since the 1991 ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre and plagued by recurring natural disasters, Somalia is often described as one of the world's worst humanitarian crisis.


Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20100105-un-cuts-somalia-food-relief-over-islamist-threat

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tragedy - this is tragedy on tragedy really.

[nyy1998]

1. The movie "Black Hawk Down" touched on this issue abeit 20 or so years before.