Somali forces end deadly al-Shabab hotel siege; UN warns of full-blown famine

An attack claimed by the al-Shabab armed group on a popular hotel in the centre of the Somali port city of Kismayo killed nine civilians on Sunday, October 23, as the World Food Program (WFP) warned it is only a matter of time before the conflict-torn Somalia is hit with a full-blown famine and people start dying in droves.

A car laden with explosives rammed the gate of the hotel, which was followed by an attack by the al-Shabab militants. Somali security forces say they have ended a seven-hour-long siege, killing three of the attackers with a fourth dying in the bomb blast. Most of the guests were rescued, including a local politician. The port city is the latest to be hit following a resurgence of bloody attacks in recent months by the al-Qaeda-linked organization, which has mainly targeted the capital Mogadishu and central Somalia. “This is not a government target,” said police officer Abdullahi Ismail. “It is just an ordinary, civilian-frequented hotel.” But Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabab’s military operation spokesperson, said the group intended to strike Jubbaland region’s administrators who work from the hotel.
Al-Shabab was driven out of Mogadishu by African Union forces in 2011, but the armed group still controls swaths of the countryside, including Kismayo, the commercial capital of Jubbaland, a region of southern Somalia. Al-Shabab has been fighting to topple the internationally recognized Somali government for more than 15 years, whereby thousands of Somalis have been killed in a decade-long rebellion.

Meanwhile, WFP, the United Nations food agency, said it has been able to keep famine at bay in conflict-torn Somalia by massively increasing food assistance to millions of acutely hungry people. WFP Somalia Deputy Country Director Laura Turner said the increased food aid so far has prevented Somalia’s hunger crisis from reaching a point of no return. However, she warned that Somalia is not yet out of danger and therefore “we are in a desperate race against time.”