UN suspends operations in Baidoa, compounds looted

The UN has suspended humanitarian operations in Somalia's southwestern town of Baidoa following the looting of its compound there, an official told IRIN on 21 July.



"We are still assessing the longer-term implications of the [militia] statements and actions and we are trying to re-engage but we have temporarily suspended humanitarian operations in Baidoa as our radio equipment was looted," Rozanne Chorlston, the acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, said.



Members of the Islamist Al-Shabab militia group, which has been fighting government troops in the capital, Mogadishu, looted equipment and vehicles from the UN compound in Baidoa on 20 July and also raided the UN office in Wajid, 340km northwest of the capital.



Baidoa is the seat of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) led by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who was elected president in February at a parliamentary meeting in Djibouti. Al-Shabab has since waged a war against the government, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths and the displacement of hundreds of thousands more.



After the looting of the UN compounds, Al-Shabab broadcast a message on local Somali radio, calling for the closure of the offices of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Political Office in Somalia (UNPOS) and the UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), which it said supported the TFG and the African Union Mission in the country (AMISOM).



In a statement issued on 20 July, Bénédicte Walter, the UN spokesperson, said: "In Baidoa, the looting of all emergency communication equipment and the lack of security officers makes it impossible for the UN as a whole to continue its operations. We deeply regret having to relocate staff and temporarily suspend our operations in Baidoa. We are expecting authorities to reconsider these decisions and allow us to address the critical humanitarian situation in Baidoa and its region."



Walter said operations in Wajid, "where the minimum security conditions are unchanged", will continue.



"Al-Shabab members visited the WFP [World Food Programme] compound in Wajid for a meeting. They took away two cars and some furniture that were not WFP property," the statement read.



Walter said the UN was optimistic that minimal conditions on the ground would be restored to allow the critical humanitarian work to resume in Baidoa and continue elsewhere in Somalia.



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