This archive report was first published on 28 August 2019.
More than a quarter of a million people died in Somalia's last famine, which ran from 2010 to 2013. Kenya is urging the UN to list Al-Shabaab under the same sanctions as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, but foreign donors say the move could have devastating consequences for Somalia.
On August 28, 2019, Kenya's proposal to list Al-Shabaab under UN Security Council resolution 1267 was set to take immediate effect if no member state objected by August 29. This would have thrown hundreds of millions of aid dollars for Somalia into doubt, with some foreign donors potentially freezing payments for up to a year as they considered how to comply with the new sanctions.
"A measure like this will have the effect of criminalising humanitarian aid," Eric Schwartz, president of Refugees International, told AFP. "Any measure that would impact the current provision of aid would have extremely serious and substantial implications."
Al-Shabaab is already targeted under broader sanctions imposed by the United Nations on Somalia, which is heavily aid-dependent after three decades of conflict and economic ruin. However, UN agencies and humanitarian organisations are exempt from these sanctions, enabling them to deliver urgent aid without prosecution when they venture into territory controlled by Al-Shabaab.
Kenya wants to tighten the screws on the jihadist group after several deadly attacks on its soil, including an attack in Nairobi in January that left 21 people dead. However, the move has been met with concerns from aid groups, who fear that it could leave millions in drought-stricken Somalia without aid.
"We would be operating in a huge grey area," a large global charity official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "As humanitarian actors, we would have this huge dilemma of carrying on providing aid, or we stop altogether."
Another concern is that banks, fearing repercussions, could limit financial services to humanitarian agencies working in Somalia -- a process known as "de-risking" that makes it difficult to transfer money and fund programmes.
