An aid worker using an iPad captures an image of a decomposing cow in Wajir, Kenya, near the border with Somalia. An aid worker using an iPad captures an image of a decomposing cow in Wajir, Kenya, near the border with Somalia. Photo: Reuters

SOMALIA'S al-Qaeda-linked Islamists have banned 16 Western aid agencies from the centre of the country, claiming they were ''fostering secularism'' and ''amplifying the refugee crisis''.
Armed, masked men forced their way into aid offices in the towns of Baidoa and Wajid and removed computers, files and supplies, witnesses reported.
The banned agencies included UNICEF, the World Health Organisation, the UN refugee agency UNHCR, Norwegian Church Aid, the Danish Refugee Council Concern and others from Sweden, Italy, Germany and France.
Most UN organisations working in Somalia were on a list published by al-Shabab's ''Office for Supervising the Affairs of Foreign Agencies''.
Iman Morooka, spokesman for UNICEF's mission to Somalia, said: ''Our office in Baidoa was taken over at 7.30am [local time Monday] and all of our staff were ordered to go home. They are all safe. It is not clear to us yet why this has happened, and why now, and we are working to understand all the details.''
Aid workers fear that help for hundreds of thousands of Somalis, many suffering from famine, will be at risk.
''You can't tell if this is one commander acting unilaterally, or a proper edict sent down from al-Shabab's bosses,'' said a senior aid worker in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, where many organisations working on Somalia are based.

''But the fact is right now, everything's stopped.
''We're looking at what we can do in the next few days, then we'll assess longer-term strategies. It could be a real mess,'' the aid worker said.
Al-Shabab said that aid agencies were ''working with international bodies to foster secularism, immorality and the degrading values of democracy in an Islamic country''.
It also said the agencies were making Somalia's refugee situation worse by ''failing to implement durable solutions''.
A spokesman said his group, which has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda, had conducted a ''meticulous year-long review'' that detailed ''the illicit activities and misconducts of some of the organisations.''
Many of the aid organisations were helping to deliver life-saving help to millions of Somalis affected by food shortages brought on by drought. Although heavy rains and a surge of aid supplies have eased the situation somewhat in the past month, tens of thousands of people have died and 250,000 still face imminent starvation.
It was not clear what prompted al-Shabab to take action against the aid agencies.
The group, which has imposed a draconian version of Islamic law in the areas it controls, is under military assault from several directions, facing troops from Ethiopia, Kenya and the African Union.

TELEGRAPH, NEW YORK TIMES