Somalia militias keep food from hungry

WAJID – When Habiba Hassan’s food ran out, she fed her four children on boiled bones and aran, a bitter leaf that grows in Somalia.

She blamed her husband for the family’s plight, and not just because he abandoned her. Hassan said her husband was with a militia group manning a roadblock near the Wajid refugee camp where she lives in a small shack made from plastic bags, dirty rags and pieces of cardboard box since fleeing fighting in southern Baidoa.”He is with the militia who are holding the (World Food Programme) food aid that was coming our way,” she said last month.”He does not care about us.”The 14-truck aid convoy was the first in years to risk the land route from the Kenyan port of Mombasa to Wajid, a town in barren and dangerous south-central Somalia.The United Nations’ food agency was forced back onto Somalia’s potholed and perilous roads after pirates hijacked two of its ships last year, complicating efforts to get food aid to people hit by years of conflict and a severe drought.Somalia slipped into chaos in 1991 when militias ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.An interim government was formed at peace talks in 2004, but has proved fractious and fragile, unable to rein in powerful warlords and their militias.Hundreds of roadblocks, where gunmen extort money from passing drivers, are dotted across the capital Mogadishu and along roads and dirt tracks throughout the country, providing a major source of income for the warlords.Militia members, armed with guns and sometimes with double-edged knives, erect wooden barriers to stop trucks and buses.If the cargo is valuable, they may steal it.They use the money they extort to buy khat, a stimulant commonly chewed by Somalis.Once high, they become reckless.Gun battles often break out and people are regularly killed.The presence of these ad hoc barricades has angered many Somalis, like those waiting for the food aid in Wajid.”These militia are merciless.Why should they hold food brought to their own people?” asked Ali Marid, who heads the camp where Hassan lives with 730 Somali families.”Ten people have already died of hunger this month.”Political wrangling is still undermining peace efforts, despite the return home last year of the fledgling government led by President Abdullahi Yusuf.But there are some signs of tentative progress.In early January, two factions in the government agreed to convene parliament in Somalia within 30 days – offering hope that efforts to rebuild the country might be revived.A severe drought has deepened the misery of people in a country that barely functions.The United Nations said last month that one million people were in dire need of food aid.WFP says the roadblocks coupled with piracy at sea are making distribution extremely difficult.”Surely what do we do when such people are refusing the food passage?” said Zlatan Milisic, WFP country director in Somalia.”Sometimes militia open fire at convoys without warning,” said Said Sharif Mohamed, a WFP logistics officer in Wajid.Aid agencies sometimes travel with their own security but that can be risky as it can increase the danger of ambush by militia seeking guns and ammunition.The WFP aid for Wajid did finally reach those in need in the town some 200 km northwest of Mogadishu.The militia in Yurkud, west of Wajid, held the convoy for nearly two days but let it go after they were paid.The roadblocks have infuriated people across the Horn of Africa nation.Bus drivers have gone on strike, people have thrown rocks at checkpoints in Mogadishu and truckers have set up their own barricades to halt traffic and cut militias’ takings.In Wajid, residents decided to kill any gunmen seen operating roadblocks, district commissioner Isak Nur Isak said.”Three militia operating a checkpoint on the outskirts of Wajid were shot dead by our police forces recently,” he said.Somalia’s Minister of Information Mohamed Abdi Hayr said roadblocks were endangering millions of lives but that some were operated by people desperate to make a living.”If you are to force them to stop …you need to give them jobs, food and then you can disarm them,” he said, adding that he hoped the new agreement to convene parliament would encourage donors to free up funds for Somalia.”The government expects to receive the aid which was promised to it and we will this year do something about the checkpoint menace,” he told Reuters.Welcome words for the people like Nuney Matho, whose one-year-old son died of hunger in the Wajid camp.”My worry is that I will lose my other two children,” she said pointing to her son’s fresh grave.”These militia are heartless.”- Nampa-ReutersHassan said her husband was with a militia group manning a roadblock near the Wajid refugee camp where she lives in a small shack made from plastic bags, dirty rags and pieces of cardboard box since fleeing fighting in southern Baidoa.”He is with the militia who are holding the (World Food Programme) food aid that was coming our way,” she said last month.”He does not care about us.”The 14-truck aid convoy was the first in years to risk the land route from the Kenyan port of Mombasa to Wajid, a town in barren and dangerous south-central Somalia.The United Nations’ food agency was forced back onto Somalia’s potholed and perilous roads after pirates hijacked two of its ships last year, complicating efforts to get food aid to people hit by years of conflict and a severe drought.Somalia slipped into chaos in 1991 when militias ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.An interim government was formed at peace talks in 2004, but has proved fractious and fragile, unable to rein in powerful warlords and their militias.Hundreds of roadblocks, where gunmen extort money from passing drivers, are dotted across the capital Mogadishu and along roads and dirt tracks throughout the country, providing a major source of income for the warlords.Militia members, armed with guns and sometimes with double-edged knives, erect wooden barriers to stop trucks and buses.If the cargo is valuable, they may steal it.They use the money they extort to buy khat, a stimulant commonly chewed by Somalis.Once high, they become reckless.Gun battles often break out and people are regularly killed.The presence of these ad hoc barricades has angered many Somalis, like those waiting for the food aid in Wajid.”These militia are merciless.Why should they hold food brought to their own people?” asked Ali Marid, who heads the camp where Hassan lives with 730 Somali families.”Ten people have already died of hunger this month.”Political wrangling is still undermining peace efforts, despite the return home last year of the fledgling government led by President Abdullahi Yusuf.But there are some signs of tentative progress.In early January, two factions in the government agreed to convene parliament in Somalia within 30 days – offering hope that efforts to rebuild the country might be revived.A severe drought has deepened the misery of people in a country that barely functions.The United Nations said last month that one million people were in dire need of food aid.WFP says the roadblocks coupled with piracy at sea are making distribution extremely difficult.”Surely what do we do when such people are refusing the food passage?” said Zlatan Milisic, WFP country director in Somalia.”Sometimes militia open fire at convoys without warning,” said Said Sharif Mohamed, a WFP logistics officer in Wajid.Aid agencies sometimes travel with their own security but that can be risky as it can increase the danger of ambush by militia seeking guns and ammunition.The WFP aid for Wajid did finally reach those in need in the town some 200 km northwest of Mogadishu.The militia in Yurkud, west of Wajid, held the convoy for nearly two days but let it go after they were paid.The roadblocks have infuriated people across the Horn of Africa nation.Bus drivers have gone on strike, people have thrown rocks at checkpoints in Mogadishu and truckers have set up their own barricades to halt traffic and cut militias’ takings.In Wajid, residents decided to kill any gunmen seen operating roadblocks, district commissioner Isak Nur Isak sai
d.”Three militia operating a checkpoint on the outskirts of Wajid were shot dead by our police forces recently,” he said.Somalia’s Minister of Information Mohamed Abdi Hayr said roadblocks were endangering millions of lives but that some were operated by people desperate to make a living.”If you are to force them to stop …you need to give them jobs, food and then you can disarm them,” he said, adding that he hoped the new agreement to convene parliament would encourage donors to free up funds for Somalia.”The government expects to receive the aid which was promised to it and we will this year do something about the checkpoint menace,” he told Reuters.Welcome words for the people like Nuney Matho, whose one-year-old son died of hunger in the Wajid camp.”My worry is that I will lose my other two children,” she said pointing to her son’s fresh grave.”These militia are heartless.”- Nampa-Reuters