Leader calls for aid as he visits besieged region

The terror group has severely restricted the movement of commercial goods and humanitarian aid transported through the land with supports that 17 trucks were burnt and drivers killed for breaking the blockade.

News Keydmedia Online
16 January 2021

HUDUR, Somalia – The decades-long armed conflict in Somalia continues to take a heavy toll on civilians in much of the south-central of the Horn of Africa nation.

The leader of Southwest State Abdulaziz Hassan Mohamed alias “Lafta-Garen” arrived in Hudur, the regional capital of Bakool on Saturday by plane flew from Baidoa city to assess the humanitarian situation.

Speaking to the local media, Lafta-Garen has called for immediate aid to the people in the region who faced food shortages caused by years of Al-Shabaab blockade on the government-controlled towns.

“Today I visited Hudur, and I appeal to the Federal Government of Somalia, UN Agencies, Humanitarian Partners, and Donors, for an urgent humanitarian intervention to save lives. Bakool faces serious food security as a result of the Al Shabaab blocked,” he said.

Combat troops from the Somali government and African Union mission freed Hudur near the Ethiopian border, from Al-Shabaab militants in March 2014 following a joint offensive.

The blockade rages on for the 7th year amid the heavy presence of Somali and Ethiopian forces in the region, where millions are on the brink to die from hunger, according to a regional official, who spoke to KON by phone.

The official who asked not to be named accused the Farmajo administration of failing to reopen roads and dislodge the militants from the small areas between the big towns in the province.

"It doesn't make any sense of liberating these towns from Al-Shabaab if the exit and entry points are still besieged and people can't receive food aid," he added.

Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda’s East Africa ally controls main supply routes and imposes blockades on towns held by AU and Somali government forces, notably Wajid, Bulo-Burte, and Hudur, all in the Bakool region.

The terror group has severely restricted the movement of commercial goods and humanitarian aid with reports that 17 trucks were burnt and drivers killed for breaking the blockade.

Somalia has millions of internally displaced people [IDPs], mostly extremely vulnerable women and children reliant on aid agencies that have faced challenges accessing needy populations due to insecurity, and restrictions imposed by Al-Shabaab.

KON English News Desk