MERKA, Somalia, Dec 4, 2007 - The Somali government has frozen aid activities in a southeastern region most affected by the country's growing humanitarian crisis, a UN spokesman told reporters Tuesday.

The new restrictions ban all humanitarian flights to the Lower Shabelle region's airports and effectively put a halt on the delivery of a food shipment that arrived Tuesday under French navy escort, World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman Peter Smerdon said.

The government had imposed "new restrictions" on all UN agencies and non-governmental organizations operating in the Lower Shabelle area, Smerdon said in Merka, a regional port around 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu.

Lower Shabelle is considered the breadbasket of Somalia but has yielded its worst crops in 13 years, causing food shortages that have been compounded by influx of hundreds of thousands displaced by fighting in the capital.

Two ships loaded with close to 4,000 tones WFP food aid destined for camps housing the displaced had arrived in Merka from Kenya earlier Tuesday.

"We are all banned from moving in this area," Smerdon said. The restrictions were announced in a statement read by the government's security chief, quoting a decision by President Abdillahi Yusuf Ahmed.

"No reason has been given by the authorities. The two ships that have arrived today in Merka are blocked and cannot be unloaded. There can be no plane movement in any airport of the region, including K50," he said.

K50 is an airport located some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Mogadishu and the preferred landing site for humanitarian flights.

"All ports and airports are now closed as of today for UN and NGO movements. They think we should use Mogadishu seaport," he added.

"We have tried to talk officially to the authorities but we haven't yet. We'll urge them to change their stance and let us continue our work," he added.

The WFP shipments had arrived safely under French navy escort to protect them from rampant piracy off the Somali coast.

Source: AFP

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