Now, the Washington Post and other news agencies report that these same Somali Islamists have banned the UN food altogether:

Trucks carrying food aid have not been allowed to pass through a checkpoint in the Afgooye corridor near the capital of Mogadishu for the past two weeks, WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon said.

Afgooye has the largest concentration of displaced people in the country. It is nominally controlled by the insurgent group Hizbul Islam but allied Islamist group al-Shabab also operates roadblocks there. On Sunday, al-Shabab prohibited WFP from distributing food in areas under its control because it says the food undercuts farmers selling recently harvested crops.

“Somali farmers are having a hard time selling their produce because WFP distributes food aid across the regions and that is demoralizing,” an al-Shabab statement said. “The organization has been completely banned.”

This development comes amidst reports of growing tensions between the US and the UN over aid restrictions.

UN official Mark Bowden claims that accusations of aid diversions in to the Shabab– who the US government has labeled a terrorist group– are unfounded. The US for its part contends that aid is indeed being diverted, leaving the Shabab to blame for Somalis not getting the aid they need.

You’ll recall that early last month that threats from the Shabab proved to be a serious impediment to the World Food Programme who then had to implement a partial suspension of food distribution in much of southern Somalia.

We’ll keep you posted on any developments.

“WFP is deeply concerned about rising hunger and suffering among the most vulnerable due to these unprecedented and inhumane attacks on purely humanitarian operations,” the agency said in a statement.

One of the recent threats to the food agency occurred in late November when Islamist militants in Somalia warned the agency to buy food from Somali farmers or stop sending aid to the impoverished African country.

That threat came from al-Shabaab, a group that has waged a bloody insurgency against the U.N.-backed government of transitional President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

Four of the agency’s staff members were killed in Somalia between August 2008 and January 2009.

Despite difficulties in southern Somalia, the agency says it is still dispensing food in the capital city Mogadishu and several other areas.

The agency says it is still able to reach more than 60 percent of those in need or about 1.8 million people.

His return to Somalia, and his attempts to maintain a fragile peace and support development efforts in his village are truly fascinating. You can watch the full video by clicking the image below:

The Washington Post writes how diseases, from influenza to tuberculosis to cholera and now swine flu, are spreading ever more quickly in an increasingly globalized world. But so, too, are the tools necessary to combat outbreaks of disease: expertise, medicine, money and information.

Washington Post—Diseases Travel Fast, but So Do Tools to Fight Them

Dr. Eric Goosby, a pioneer in the fight against AIDS, is President Obama’s choice to run the American effort to combat the disease globally, the White House announced this week. “The Pepfar program has already saved millions of lives in sub-Saharan Africa and other hard-hit areas around the world,” Dr. Goosby said in a statement. “But significant challenges relating to the prevention and treatment of H.I.V. remain.”

NY Times—Obama Picks Leader for Global AIDS Effort

Zimbabwe’s leaders this week failed for the fourth time in a fortnight to resolve a series of contentious issues threatening to paralyze the country’s shaky coalition government. The crisis talks remained deadlocked after long hours of intense discussions, signaling a serious political problem besetting the new government. A fierce power struggle is raging behind the scenes as President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai intensify their battle for political control.

Business Day (South Africa) – No Aid for Zimbabwe as Leaders Struggle to Overcome Political Impasse

Growing evidence indicates battle-hardened extremists are filtering out of safe havens along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and into eastern Africa, bringing sophisticated terrorist tactics that include suicide attacks. The alarming shift, according to U.S. military and counterterrorism officials, is fueling concern that Somalia is increasingly on a path to become the next Afghanistan — a sanctuary where al-Qaida-linked groups could train and plan attacks against the West.

Associated Press – Terrorists filter into Africa

-Steve Wilson

Our thoughts go out to the crew aboard the Maersk Alabama in this very tense situation. We’ll bring you further developments as they occur.

-Chris Scott

-Steve Wilson

“Some 10,000 volunteers and health workers delivered multiple doses of oral vaccine to children in Somalia’s hard-to-reach villages, nomadic communities and makeshift camps that have grown as a result of clashes between Islamic insurgents, warlords and Ethiopian-backed Somali government forces.

Bruce Aylward, director of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, said the campaign showed that the virus could be stopped in highly insecure pockets of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and densely populated corners of India where sanitation facilities are lacking.”

Read more in the Reuter’s article.