By Frank Nyakairu
NAIROBI (AlertNet) - Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said his government was trying to improve security in the Horn of Africa country and asked aid agencies to be patient.
Ahmed's comments late on Thursday were in response to the U.N. World Food Programme's (WFP) decision to suspend its work in much of southern Somalia 10 days ago due to threats against its staff and unacceptable demands by al Shabaab insurgents controlling the area.
"We are very concerned about the humanitarian condition of Somali people after some of the aid agencies like WFP evacuated from the region ... we would like to urge them to be patient as we try to improve the situation," Ahmed told journalists in Nairobi where he was meeting foreign officials this week.
About three-quarters of the 3.76 million Somalis who need aid are concentrated in central and southern regions -- most of them controlled by the hardline Islamist al Shabaab rebel group,
which Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia.
WFP's decision meant it was now virtually impossible to reach up to 1 million people in a country where chronic violence, attacks against aid workers and kidnappings regularly impede the delivery of aid.
A former Islamist rebel, Ahmed was elected president a year ago. While there were hopes he would be able to reconcile with the insurgents he has made little headway and the government
controls only a few blocks of Mogadishu.
Fighting since the start of 2007 has killed more than 21,000 Somalis and driven 1.5 million from their homes -- making it one of the world's biggest humanitarian crises.
After meeting Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Thursday, Ahmed pledged to form an anti-terrorist police force for Somalia which Western security agencies say has become a safe haven for militants, who are using it to plot attacks across the impoverished region and beyond.
"We have agreed with the minister on ways to strengthen government institutions to make sure the government protects its people," he said.
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