US 'to aid Islamist areas of famine-hit Somalia'

[Gerald]

The US has said it will send aid to famine-hit areas of Somalia controlled by the Islamist group al-Shabab.

But US aid officials say assurances must be given that the insurgents will not interfere with its distribution.

The US considers al-Shabab a terrorist group and last year stopped aid to the large area of Somalia it controls.

The UN has declared a famine in two areas of southern Somalia as the region experiences the worst drought in more than half a century.

Al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-affiliated group which controls large swathes of south and central Somalia, had imposed a ban on foreign aid agencies in its territories in 2009, but has recently allowed limited access.

The deputy administrator of the US Agency for International Development, Donald Steinberg, said the aid must not benefit al-Shabab.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14222584


Note: 20 July 2011 Last updated at 20:35 GMT