Help for Somalia

Thousands of refugees fleeing famine and violence have flooded the Somali capital, Mogadishu, hoping international aid deliveries would be made after al Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabab rebels left it this weekend.

Somalia's struggling government said the rebels' retreat as a major victory, but speaking on an al-Shabab controlled radio station, one member said the withdrawal for tactical reasons and vowed that attacks would continue.

"[Al-Shabab] may regroup," Augustine Mahiga, the UN special envoy to Somalia, told reporters. He added that it could try to melt into the population and may even go back to "terrorist tactics. This cannot be ruled out."

Aid and news organizations also reported Wednesday that some fighting between remnants of al-Shabab and African Union peacekeepers continued in Mogadishu.

Desperately needed help

But with al-Shabab largely out of the capital, hopes are high that international aid deliveries will be able to reach the people who desperately need it. Valerie Amos, UN Under-Secretary-General and emergency relief coordinator, said the number of Somalis fleeing into Ethiopia had declined since al-Shabab withdrew opening the way for more aid to be delivered to famine victims in the city.

She said about 100,000 people seeking food, water and shelter had fled southern and central areas into Mogadishu, although cautioned that security situation was still a concern.

The first of three flights from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) carried more than 31 tons of supplies to Mogadishu on Monday. A second flight is scheduled for Thursday and a third for next week,

"The airlift of emergency assistance items will allow us to continue delivering aid to those displaced by drought and famine," said UNHCR Representative to Somalia Bruno Geddo. "We need the funding support to continue to enable us to replenish our emergency stocks inside Somalia as they are being rapidly depleted as we deliver much-needed aid across southern Somalia."

Millions go hungry

Workers at refugee camps also said the need for additional aid remains.

"Most of the people coming here are very weak," said Musseh Hassan, who works in a refugee camp in Mogadishu. "The Red Cross brought blankets and a little food, but there's no way it's enough."

The United Nations officially declared famine in Somalia for the first time this century, including in Mogadishu and four southern regions, and said overall about 3.6 million people are at risk of starvation in Somalia and about two million people across the Horn of Africa, including in Ethiopia and Kenya.

"A lot of the crisis is attributable to the fact that many people whose situation was very vulnerable did not get adequate help in time," Rashid Abdi, a Horn of Africa analyst at the International Crisis Group told the Council of Foreign Relations. "That is why you see this crisis has reached this level."

Militants lose public support

The Somali Transitional Federal Government said it was confident it would be able to continue weakening al-Shabab, which has been classified as a terrorist organization by the United States and other governments. Public support for the militants is also eroding, Abdi said.

"Many in Somalia, even those who initially supported al-Shabab, are now blaming them and seeing them as culpable in this crisis," he said.

Somalia's transitional government now said it is willing to help reintegrate militants into society by offering an amnesty to rebels who lay down their weapons.

"The cabinet had long discussions and reached the decision that we are prepared to forgive the misguided teenagers who joined al-Shabab," government spokesman Abdirahman Osman said. "If they renounce the militia, we will support them and help them reenter society. That is more in Somalia's interest than revenge."

Al-Shabab is estimated to have some 9,000 members. Having left Mogadishu, most of them are thought to be located across southern Somalia, a region the group has long held under its control.

Authors: Antje Diekhans, Nairobi / Sean Sinico (Reuters, AFP, dpa)

Editor: Michael Knigge