Gedo Region "temporarily" closed to UN

The United Nations announced on Tuesday that it has temporarily closed Gedo Region in southwestern Somalia to UN flights and international staff.

The closure comes one day after an aircraft carrying the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Max Gaylard, came under fire from a local militia as it prepared to take off from Garbahaarey town.

The region was "temporarily closed to all UN air operations and international staff ground operations due to insecurity", UN spokeswoman Sonya Green told IRIN. She said the UN was "reviewing, gathering information and discussing the extent and duration of the closure, given the humanitarian needs in the region".

Gedo Region has one of the most serious humanitarian situations in Somalia, due to drought and persistent clan wars. A report in July by the UN-EU Food Security Assessment Unit (FSAU) and USAID's Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS) warned that up to 200,000 people in the region were considered to be vulnerable to food insecurity.

Green said that on Monday, local militia - hired to guard contracted vehicles - opened fire on the plane operated by the UN Combined Air Services (UNCAS) "in what is believed to be a dispute over payment". One militiaman had "managed to fire seven shots at the plane and an employee on the airstrip", she said, adding that no-one was injured and the plane was not hit.

Earlier in the day three militiamen had delayed the landing of the UN plane, but local elders managed to remove them from the airstrip.

"The aircraft took off safely, and the remaining 10 UN employees – three internationals and seven nationals – returned to their compound," the spokeswoman said. "They were followed there by the militiamen, who made threats. As a result, the 10 UN employees were driven south to Burdhubo, where they were picked up by an aircraft and flown to Waajid [in Bakol region]."