Somalia needs help to airlift supplies to towns recently retaken by African Union-led forces because Islamist insurgents driven out from the areas are blocking aid convoys.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud accused al-Shabaab militants of trying to create food shortages in newly-liberated areas to turn locals against the state - and said the aid would show people the benefit of government control.

African troops working with Somalia's army have ended the first phase of a campaign to retake areas still in al-Shabaab hands after it was driven from Mogadishu in 2011.