The Society for Threatened Peoples STP (Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker GfbV) warned on Monday of a "politicization of humanitarian aid” for Somalia since it is endangering the food supplies of one million people. The STP accused the radical Islamic Al Shabaab militia and the US government of conducting a power struggle on the backs of the people in distress. The human rights organisation appealed to the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to ensure mediation so that the humanitarian aid is guaranteed for south and central Somalia. "Humanitarian aid must not be linked to political conditions”, demanded the STP Africa consultant, Ulrich Delius. "The Moslem world must take action now to prevent the famine in Somalia from getting worse.” It is only the 22 member states of the Arab League and the 57 countries represented in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference which might possibly still have some influence on the Al Shabaab militia.

0n Sunday the Islamists firmly rejected a resuscitation of the humanitarian aid of the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations in south and central Somalia. The WFP had to suspend its activities there on 3rd January 2010 on account of lacking security and the increasingly inordinate demands of the militia. The Islamists also accuse the WFP of not being politically neutral and allowing themselves to be instrumentalised by the USA for espionage. "The accusations are groundless”, said Delius, "The WFP has always helped all the hungry in Somalia without taking any political considerations into account.”

The US government is also criticising the WFP. It accuses the UN organisation of not taking sufficient care to prevent the misuse of humanitarian aid. Washington declares that aid supplies are resold by Al Shabaab to purchase weapons. An internal investigation of the WFP supplied no proofs for this charge. The US government, the largest financer of aid for Somalia, thereupon reduced its aid contribution in the year 2009 from 270 million US dollars to 90 million. The support is also only provided on condition that no part of it may be used for bribes for passing road-blocks and the use of warehouses and ports. Aid organisations must in future also report if Islamists profit from the support. "These conditions are illusory and cannot be practised by any helpers”, criticised Delius. "In most of the humanitarian crisis regions bribes are paid to make the transport of aid possible. "To demand anything else for Somalia is to apply double standards for political reasons.”