Somali Official Condemns Insurgent Threat to WFP

An official of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government says the administration categorically condemns al-Shabab’s threats after the hard-line Islamist group ordered the World Food Program (WFP) to halt its operations and leave the country.

28 February 2010

Internally displaced Somali children line up with containers in hand to receive food aid at a food distribution center in Mogadishu.

An official of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government says the administration categorically condemns al-Shabab’s threats after the hard-line Islamist group ordered the World Food Program (WFP) to halt its operations and leave the country.

Abdi Kadir Walaayo

said the government is looking at decisive ways to deal militarily with the insurgent group.

“The government condemns this act and describes it as inhumane because it’s really something inconceivable if someone is stopped from delivering humanitarian assistance to the needy people,” he said.

In a statement released Sunday, the insurgent group ordered the WFP to stop all of its operations and leave the country.

"Effective as of today, all of WFP's operations inside Somalia are terminated, and the organization has been completely banned," read the statement from the insurgent group.

Al-Shabab has often accused WFP of distributing expired food, which the group claims negatively impacts local farmers - - a charge WFP denies.