Somalia drought: UN delivers aid to Islamist areas

Andrew Mitchell is touring the huge Dadaab camp in north-eastern Kenya to see the scale of the crisis caused by the drought, the Horn of Africa's worst in 60 years which is estimated to be affecting some 10 million people.But the UK's overseas aid minister told the BBC the UK would not deal with al-Shabab, which controls much of Somalia.It comes as the UK pledged £52.25m ($84m) in emergency drought aid.Unicef airlifted food and medicine to malnourished children to the central town of Baidoa, more than 200km (about 125 miles) north-west of the capital, Mogadishu.Ms Chorlton, the Unicef representative for Somalia, said al-Shabab had assured the agency it could operate without undue interference.UN children organisation's Rozanne Chorlton said al-Shabab had given UN workers unhindered access and hoped this would encourage other agencies.Al-Shabab, which rules over large swathes of south and central Somalia, had imposed a ban on foreign aid agencies in its territories two years ago, accusing them of being anti-Muslim. It lifted the ban 10 days ago as long as groups had "no hidden agenda".
Unicef paid no fees to al-Shabab, and that the success of the mission meant it would be repeated in the near future, she added."They gave assurances that our access for humanitarian purposes would be unhindered and that we would be able to reach the people who need support most," Ms Chorlton told the BBC.