Humanitarian agencies cannot operate where assistance is being targeted. We are already seriously challenged by the logistics of this mission and shouldn't have to watch our backs as well.

Targeting humanitarian assistance is totally unacceptable. It is callous and violates all international humanitarian principles.

Surely what do we do when such people are refusing the food passage?

[It is] very difficult, very hard, very unpredictable, very unstable but we don't have a choice... We try to do our best. There are too many men with guns in Somalia but that's the environment in which these vulnerable people find themselves.

Fifteen percent is a humanitarian emergency and we are already at 25 percent.

All of the humanitarian agencies operating in Somalia have armed guards. We're very uncomfortable with it, but there's very little option to pull out of (the security arrangements).