Extremists' Gunfire Threatens Somali Aid
August 1, 2011— -- Food and medicine -- the necessities 10 million people sorely need to keep from starving to death in Somalia -- continues to be threatened by the extremist group al Shabab.
The group, which has links to al-Qaeda, sought to block vital humanitarian aid routes into the capital city of Mogadishu on SUnday as it continued its insurgency against Somalia's United Nations-backed government.
ABC News' David Muir, the only American network reporter covering the famine, was on the front lines as African Union soldiers engaged in a firefight with al Shabab combatants, desperately trying to keep the group from advancing even closer to Mogadishu.
The extremist group has also refused to operate refugee camps in the Southern areas it controls, forcing millions to walk for days and weeks on end through the drought-ridden south to reach camp -- and have a fighting chance for survival.
"They are trying to make it very impossible for the humanitarian groups," Lt. Colonel Paddy Ankunda said.
While touring the frontlines today, ABC News' convoy was hit with gunfire. No one was hurt.
"Those are their bullets," Ankunda told Muir. He said he was certain they had come from al Shabab.
A short distance away, ABC News visited a refugee camp overflowing with people -- young and old, fighting for their lives in the midst of what the United Nations has called the worst food emergency in the world.
One mother told ABC News she walked 15 days from her home in the south to reach the camp.
"It was bad," her son Yusef told ABC News through a translator.
He said he doesn't miss home.
For now Yusef and his family, like many others, continue to wait for the food and medical attention that will keep them alive -- the question is, whether the gunfire will stop in time.
