MOGADISHU — Somalia's Al-Shabab militants said on Monday they had banned Muslim aid agency Islamic Relief from areas under their control, a move that would deprive 1.3 million people of food, clean water and health care. Islamic Relief, one of few international aid agencies able to work in Al-Shabab-run areas, said it had not been notified by the rebels that its permit had been revoked and that a ban would also threaten access to areas under government control. Faced with a military offensive by African Union and Somali forces, the Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents have pulled out of a number of urban strongholds in southern and central Somalia. They still hold sway over vast rural areas where the central government and regional administrations have minimal control. Al-Shabab accused the humanitarian organization of working with other relief groups it had already expelled. “Islamic relief was found to be covertly extending the operations of banned organizations, particularly WFP,” Al-Shabab said on Twitter, referring to the United Nations' food agency, World Food Program. An Al-Shabab spokesman confirmed that the Twitter messages were authentic. “Islamic Relief has repeatedly failed, despite persistent warnings, to comply with (our) operational guidelines,” the rebels' Twitter feed said. Iftikhar Ahmed Shaheen, Islamic Relief's regional director, said the announcement was a “very strong sign” from Al-Shabab and that relief services helping more than one million Somalis in the regions of Bay, Bakool, Gedo and Lower Juba were at risk. “We have no program as far as I am aware that is funded by WFP. We will try and engage with (Al-Shabab) through our local teams and try to explain our organization's policies in a better way,” he said. — Reuters
