Strict British and US counterterrorism laws are discouraging humanitarian organizations from delivering vital emergency assistance to millions of people facing starvation and fatal diseases in drought-hit Somalia.
Senior humanitarian officials say the laws, which target any individual or organization found to have materially assisted a terrorist group, exert a “chilling effect” on vital assistance in areas of Somalia controlled by Islamic militants from al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda affiliate.
The worst drought in 40 years in the unstable east African nation threatens 6 million people with famine. Most of the worst hit — about 2 million people — live in areas run by al-Shabaab.
Illustration: June Hsu
Humanitarian officials say it is almost impossible to guarantee that no aid will reach the extremists if they work there, and fear this means they will fall foul of the laws, exposing them to potential prosecution.
“US and UK terrorism financing laws are a significant discouragement to operating in al-Shabaab areas. At the very least, you could end up wasting a huge amount of time explaining yourself; at worst, if substantial amounts of aid were appropriated by al-Shabaab — as has happened to people in the past — you could end up in court with your organization shut down,” said the country director of one major international non-governmental organization (NGO) working in Somalia.
Moving any aid over land in Somalia involves paying “taxes” at road blocks run by different armed groups, including al-Shabaab.
UN experts estimated that at the height of its power in 2010 al-Shabaab imposed fees and taxes that totaled on average US$90,000 per aid agency every six months.
Also, any access to al-Shabaab controlled areas for NGOs would have to involve negotiations with local community and clan elders, some of whom are likely to be connected to the insurgents.
Justin Brady, a senior UN humanitarian official responsible for overseeing the distribution of hundreds of millions of US dollars of international assistance in Somalia, said the primary reason for NGOs avoiding areas run by al-Shabaab remained the security threat posed by the Islamic militants.
However, the US and UK laws were poorly understood and presented a disincentive, he said.
“Once you get past [the security issues], that becomes a consideration and you have to figure out how you can work there. It has a chilling effect. I’m sure in Washington or London it’s clear what [the laws] meant, but here it is much more difficult,” Brady said.
Senior UN officials in Somalia recently sought clarification from the US and the UK about potential prosecution.
Unofficial advice to NGOs, given via the UN, is that “a blind eye” is being turned to any humanitarian operations in al-Shabaab-controlled zones following legal changes to allow a “humanitarian exception” to the counterterrorist laws.
British officials last week said the NGOs’ anxiety is unfounded, and pointed out that no one has been prosecuted by the US or the UK under the legislation.
“The bottom line is that there is an emergency and the priority for everyone is getting aid to those who need it, wherever they are,” British Ambassador to Somalia David Concar said in an interview in Mogadishu last week.
“We know some organizations are successfully getting aid through to communities in dire need of help in al-Shabaab-controlled areas. [Counterterrorist] legislation is not intended to stop — and nor should it actually stop — any aid groups from working in such areas as long as they have the necessary controls in place and they’re not deliberately supporting terrorists,” he said.
Despite the reassurances, deep anxiety remains among aid planners, who say they need clear guidance from the US and UK.
This would be politically difficult, as it could be seen as sanctioning negotiations with terrorist organizations.
In 2011, during the previous major famine, little aid made it into al-Shabaab-held areas.
One expert report, published after the emergency, listed “constraints on aid agencies related to counterterrorism legislation” as important factors contributing to the death toll of more than 250,000.
The British government was forced to write off aid worth £480,000 (US$621,696) following a series of thefts between November 2011 and February 2012 by al-Shabaab from the offices and warehouses of partner organizations.
In this new crisis, the Islamic militants have allowed women and children, and some men, to leave areas under their control to travel to government-held towns — such as Baidoa, 250km northwest of Mogadishu — where medical assistance, water and food are available.
The greatest obstacles to delivering desperately needed assistance to those who live in zones controlled, or at least contested, by al-Shabaab remains the potential for corruption and for direct attacks from the militants.
Senior NGO officials said the laws forced them to “think twice” before undertaking such operations, even if security was guaranteed.
Any humanitarian activity is therefore “under the radar,” thus ruling out major interventions.
“Everyone wants to turn a blind eye, but that means you’re not going to get to scale. We are not going to put down a large cholera treatment center which everyone can get to, for example, so we can’t get quantity, and because we can’t get technical experts in we can’t get quality either,” Brady said.
In September 2009, the administration of then-US president Barack Obama temporarily suspended shipments of US food aid to Somalia pending a policy review.
Experts say humanitarian agencies have a right under the Geneva conventions and international humanitarian law to negotiate with non-state parties to an armed conflict to access famine victims.
The concerns about possible prosecution underline the difficulties of delivering aid in the middle of a civil war, where communities in desperate need are in zones controlled by a proscribed terrorist organization.
The UN says it needs US$4.4 billion for humanitarian assistance to more than 20 million people facing famine in Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen in what officials have described as the biggest humanitarian emergency since the organization was founded in 1945.
Each of the four countries is deep in a conflict involving an array of local and regional actors. In three of them, Islamic militants, including al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, play a role, making access to vulnerable communities extremely difficult.
After nine days of holidays for the Lunar New Year, government agencies and companies are to reopen for operations today, including the Legislative Yuan. Many civic groups are expected to submit their recall petitions this week, aimed at removing many Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers from their seats. Since December last year, the KMT and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) passed three controversial bills to paralyze the Constitutional Court, alter budgetary allocations and make recalling elected officials more difficult by raising the threshold. The amendments aroused public concern and discontent, sparking calls to recall KMT legislators. After KMT and TPP legislators again
Taiwan faces complex challenges like other Asia-Pacific nations, including demographic decline, income inequality and climate change. In fact, its challenges might be even more pressing. The nation struggles with rising income inequality, declining birthrates and soaring housing costs while simultaneously navigating intensifying global competition among major powers. To remain competitive in the global talent market, Taiwan has been working to create a more welcoming environment and legal framework for foreign professionals. One of the most significant steps in this direction was the enactment of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) in 2018. Subsequent amendments in
US President Donald Trump on Saturday signed orders to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China effective from today. Trump decided to slap 25 percent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada as well as 10 percent on those coming from China, but would only impose a 10 percent tariff on Canadian energy products, including oil and electricity. Canada and Mexico on Sunday quickly responded with retaliatory tariffs against the US, while countermeasures from China are expected soon. Nevertheless, Trump announced yesterday to delay tariffs on Mexico and Canada for a month and said he would hold further talks with
Taiwan’s undersea cables connecting it to the world were allegedly severed several times by a Chinese ship registered under a flag of convenience. As the vessel sailed, it used several different automatic identification systems (AIS) to create fake routes. That type of “shadow fleet” and “gray zone” tactics could create a security crisis in Taiwan and warrants response measures. The concept of a shadow fleet originates from the research of Elisabeth Braw, senior fellow at the Washington-based Atlantic Council. The phenomenon was initiated by authoritarian countries such as Iran, North Korea and Russia, which have been hit by international economic