NAIROBI, (AlertNet) - Almost 1 million displaced Somalis in need of aid cannot be reached by United Nations refugee and food agencies because of growing insecurity and the threat of kidnappings to staff.
Fighting between government troops and Islamic rebel groups in the failed Horn of Africa nation has killed at least 21,000 people since the start of 2007 and driven another 1.5 million from their homes, triggering one of the world's worst humanitarian emergencies.
"The U.N. is trying very hard to deliver aid to many Somalis by constantly balancing the need for aid and the risk of having our staff kidnapped," Bruno Geddo, UNHCR's country representative for Somalia, told AlertNet in a telephone interview.
Geddo said around 900,000 people in south and central Somalia are beyond reach because of the insecurity. Kidnappings are common, with militia groups and gangs seeking to extract ransoms.
According to Geddo, 42 aid workers have been killed in Somalia since 2008 and 33 have been kidnapped, with ten still in captivity.
Somalia has had no effective central government for 19 years and Western efforts to install one to steer the country back to stability have been greatly undermined by al Shabaab rebels and another smaller group, Hizbul Islam.
Kenya, which has twice been hit in al Qaeda-linked attacks, believes the situation in Somalia is a threat to regional stability and has trained Somali youths to join the Somali government's offensive against al Shabaab.
WFP FAILS TO REACH A MILLION
The World Food Programme (WFP) suspended its work in much of southern Somalia in January due to threats against its staff and what it said were unacceptable demands by al Shabaab rebels controlling the area.
"WFP cannot reach 1 million Somalis in areas where aid operations were suspended and where food deliveries have been blocked," Peter Smerdon, WFP's spokesman in Nairobi, told AlertNet by telephone.
WFP said it is still feeding 1 million Somalis in central Somalia, Puntland and Somaliland.
Some 1.4 million Somalis have been displaced by the fighting while half a million live in refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen and Uganda.
The fragile Western-backed transitional government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed only controls a small pocket of Mogadishu, with the help of African Union troops, and faces near daily attacks from Islamist rebels.
Geddo said the UNHCR relied heavily on Somali communities to guarantee the security of its staff.
"We count very much on community support ... they put pressure on local authorities to let humanitarian workers deliver relief aid in many parts of Somalia," said Geddo.
Humanitarian access to rebel-controlled coastal zones and southern Somalia is difficult, he said.
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