Late December brought the killing of Ali Farah Amey, the chief of security of the World Food Programme (WFP) in the Hiiraan region of Somalia. Hezbal Islam militants had just one day prior issued an edict demanding the registration of all relief workers.
In a direct signal to Western aid agencies, militants of the Islamic group Al-Shabaab, who have ties with Al-Qaeda, burned approximately 300 bags of WFP food aid in a warehouse in the coastal city of Merka. Sheik Mohamed Abdhuulahi, Al-Shabaab’s regional governor of the Lower Shabelle region, subsequently stated in a press conference that they set fire to the sacks of sorghum, maize and beans which he said were no longer fit for distribution.
Abdhuulahi stated “The so-called world food program (WFP) wanted to poison our people because as our intelligence services have got the information they wanted to distribute the dirty food to our people and many people would have died because of the expired food so we have foiled their plot against the Muslim people in Somalia”.
Newstime Africa reports the burning of the WFP food comes as January 1, 2010, marked the end of the Islamists’ deadline that the UN food agency stop importing food aid from foreign nations and buy food from Somali farmers. Militants also said they raided the compounds of other relief agencies in the city of Merka and burned packages of medicines and over 4000 video cassettes of Indian films translated into Somali language.
Posted by Patricia Lee.
