The United States is to announce new guidelines on its sanctions against Somali terrorist group, the Al-Shabaab, to ease the movement of humanitarian assistance in the Horn of African nation, embassy officials said Wednesday.

US Embassy in Addis Ababa said State Department officials would hold a telephone briefing with journalists to explain new guidelines being issued by the US government, which would allow more flexibility in the provision of a wider range of aid to a larger number of areas in need of humanitarian assistance around Mogadishu and other surrounding towns.

The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Bruce Wharton, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, Dr. Reuben Brigety, and Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Nancy Lindborg, will brief journalists on the new guidelines affecting mostly the Al-Shabaab-held territories.

Al-Shabaab, classified as a terrorist group allied to the Al Qaeda terror movement in East Africa, is in control of territories worst-affected by the fighting in Somalia, which has also created a bigger humanitarian crisis on the ground.

UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) officials have blamed an ongoing military operation in the Al-Shabaab territories for contributing to the worsening crisis in the Horn of Africa nation.

African Union Commission's Deputy Chairperson Erastus Mwencha, who concluded a visit to Mogadishu, singled out the Al-Shabaab controlled territories as particularly worst-hit by the famine in Somalia.

UN aid agencies said operations in the region have become extremely complicated because they have to rely on armoured vehicles to reach the needy populations.

The new guidelines indicate that US aid organisations would not be penalized should the Al-Shabaab directly benefits from their operation.

Pana 04/08/2011