Somali Extremists Scorch Food Aid

NewsTime Africa
Friday, January 01, 2010

Islamist fighters in Somalia loyal to the extremist group Al-shabaab with ties to Al-Qaeda said they raided a WFP-owned warehouse in the coastal city of Merka and burned more than 300 sacks of food. Al-shabaab’s regional governor of the Lower Shabelle region Sheik Mohamed Abdhuulahi, said in a press conference that they have set fire on the WFP food consisting of sorghum, maize and beans which he said had expired. “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” he said.

“We have burned the expired food in public and we will continue the operation to check what is kept in the warehouses belonging to the agencies based in the region” the regional Islamist governor told reporters in Merka late Thursday.

The burning of the WFP food comes as today January the 1st 2010, marks the end of Islamists’ deadline that the UN food agency must stop importing food aid from foreign nations and ordered to buy food from Somali farmers and then distribute to the needy people. Militants also said they raided the compounds of some unnamed relief agencies and studios in the city of Merka and burned packages of medicines and over 4000 video cassettes of Indian films translated into Somali language.

On December 22nd un-identified assailants killed Ali Farah Amey, the chief of security of the World Food Program in the Hiiraan region. His killing came a day after rebel group Hezbal Islam militants ordered relief workers to register with them. Somali militants banned nearly ten international aid agencies from operating in Somalia accusing them of being involved in what they called western intelligence plots, spreading Christianity in Somalia and other crimes. Extremists are keen to implement a brutal version of Sharia Law which has become unacceptable to the wider Muslim world. They resort to violence methods contrary to the peaceful teachings of the Holy Quran.