JOHANNESBURG — A million people in southern Somalia are at risk of starvation after the World Food Program suspended humanitarian aid Tuesday because of attacks and threats by al-Qaeda-linked rebels.
“Rising threats and attacks on humanitarian operations, as well as the imposition of a string of unacceptable demands from armed groups, have made it virtually impossible for WFP to continue reaching up to 1 million people in need in southern Somalia,” the organization said in a statement Tuesday.
The WFP has evacuated staff, equipment and food aid from the south to central Somalia. The shutdown is one of the largest WFP retreats in years, meaning its food aid may reach 1.8 million people out of its target of 2.8 million.
The al-Shabab militant Islamic group, which has taken control of much of the country’s south, last year gave the WFP a deadline of Jan. 1 to leave. The agency says farmers can’t provide the food required to feed the million hungry Somalians in the south of the country.
The organization said it was ready to provide food aid to refugees who moved north because of hunger.
Al-Shabab has threatened human-rights activists, journalists and aid workers in recent months. Some have been kidnapped; others have been shot.
Last month, a WFP security officer was shot dead in the town of Beledweyne.
Al-Shabab aims to introduce Taliban-style Islamic law throughout the country.
