Political exploitation of aid and a devastating drought threatening over 10 million people with starvation in the Horn of Africa should galvanise a serious international effort to help stabilise Somalia after two decades of war and chaos. For once, the reason could be the welfare of Somalis themselves.

Most recent foreign interventions in Somalia have focused on security: the operations of pirates along Somalia’s coast against tankers and the recruitment of youth into the Islamist Al Shabaab militias, with links to Al Qaida and regional terrorist operations.

Yet the pirates have circumvented the confused effort to police the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden, and the United States drone attacks on Al Shabaab have done little to disrupt its fighting prowess or its links with Al Qaida units in Yemen. Now Western aid agencies and the United Nations are doing business with Al Shabaab, which controls access to Somali regions worst-hit by the drought.

UN aid coordinator for Somalia Mark Bowden announced a deal this week to deliver aid to camps run by Al Shabaab committees. The militia expelled all foreign aid workers two years ago, but lifted the ban recently when thousands of hungry Somalis started fleeing areas under its control.

In a dramatic policy change on 21 July, the USA said it would send aid to famine-hit areas controlled by Al Shabaab, but only if the militia guaranteed that it would not interfere with distribution. If international agencies can suspend disbelief when they cut deals with Al Shabaab in the hope of saving lives, they should be able to muster support for a fresh campaign to rebuild Somalia run by its resilient and resourceful people.