Many difficulties have been facing relief efforts aimed at aiding Somali people suffering famine.

Many difficulties have been facing relief efforts aimed at aiding Somali people suffering famine.

According to humanitarian organization said there have been obstacles in accessing area controlled by rebels.
The al-Shabab rebel group, controlling most of the south, including the main famine zones, has refused to lift the bans it has imposed on several humanitarian agencies over the past two years. Barred organizations include the World Food Program, which usually leads drought responses.
But several other international aid groups, includin

g Islamic Relief, UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), have been operating across the al-Shabab-controlled zones, as have numerous Somali non-governmental organizations.

Staff at these agencies said the major problem in responding to the crisis is the time it was taking to buy food abroad and transport it to the worst-hit areas.
“The limits on our action are more on the side of logistics than access,” said Anna Schaaf, spokeswoman for the ICRC in Nairobi.
“To purchase 3,000 tons of food] and get it there is a long process.”

UNICEF said it had taken 20 days to source soy-blend products – a key part of aid for malnourished people – from India, and twice that long from Europe.
The UN children’s agency said while it was sending 11 flights to Somalia this week its efforts were “still not to scale and not enough”.