Morning Briefing

"Al-Shabab rebels banned some U.N. and international aid agencies from working in Somalia on Monday and began seizing and looting some of their offices in southern and central areas of the country, the Islamist group and aid sources said," Reuters reports (Ahmed et al., 11/28). "Among the agencies al-Shabab banned on Monday were UNICEF, the World Health Organization, UNHCR, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Danish Refugee Council, German Agency For Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Action Contre la Faim, Solidarity, Saacid and Concern," the Associated Press/Washington Post notes (11/28). In a statement, al-Shabab, "[t]he main Islamist insurgent group in Somalia, which is still in the throes of a major food crisis classified as famine in some regions, ... accus[ed] them of 'illicit activities and misconduct,'" IRIN writes (11/28). "The al-Shabab statement accused the groups of exaggerating the scale of the problems in Somalia for political reasons and to raise money," according to BBC News (11/28)