Up to half the food aid intended for the millions of hungry people in Somalia is being diverted to corrupt contractors, radical Islamic militants and local UN workers, a UN Security Council report said.
The report blames the problem on improper food distribution by the World Food Programme (WFP) in the African nation, which has been plagued by fighting and humanitarian suffering for nearly two decades, said a UN diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity because the report has not yet been released. It calls on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to authorize an independent investigation of the Rome-based agency’s operation in Somalia.
Because of the instability in Somalia, transporters must truck bags of food through roadblocks manned by a bewildering array of militias, insurgents and bandits. Kidnappings and executions are common and the insecurity makes it difficult for senior UN officials to travel to the country to check on procedures.
Investigators could end up relying on the same people they are probing to provide protection.
The UN diplomat said “a significant diversion” of food delivered by the UN food program is going to cartels that were selling it illegally, according to the report by the panel of experts monitoring UN sanctions against Somalia.
The findings were first reported by the New York Times on Tuesday.
Although WFP contracts are supposed to be subject to open tender and competitive bidding, “in practice the system offers little or no scope for genuine competition,” the diplomat quoted the report as saying.
The transportation contracts, with a budget of US$200 million, constitute the single most important source of revenue in Somalia, the diplomat quoted the report as saying.
“Preliminary investigations by the monitoring group indicate the existence of a de facto cartel characterized by irregular procedures in the awarding of contracts by the WFP Somalia Country Office, discriminatory practices and preferential treatment,” the report was quoted as saying.
“On account of their contracts with WFP, these men have become some of the wealthiest in Somalia,” it was quoted as saying.
About 3.7 million people in Somalia — nearly half of the population — need aid. Earlier this year, the country’s main extremist Islamic group, al-Shabab, said it would stop WFP from distributing food in areas under its control because the food undercuts farmers selling recently harvested crops.
Omar Jamal, first secretary for Somalia’s UN Mission, said on Wednesday that the problem was “the absence of law and order.”
“Radicals, al-Shabab have to eat. And ever wonder where their foods come from? Of course, from WFP and UNDP,” said Jamal, also referring to the UN Development Program. “Empower the Somali government to deal with corrupt contractors, Islamists and war profiteers awash in the country.”
Al-Shabab also accused the agency of handing out food unfit for human consumption and of secretly supporting “apostates,” or those who have renounced Islam.
The report says al-Shabab controls 95 percent of WFP’s areas of operation, the diplomat said.
It said Somalis with WFP contracts are not only diverting aid but sharing in the proceeds.
Approximately 30 percent of the food goes to the distributors or “implementing partners,” between 5 percent and 10 percent goes to the armed group in control of the area and 10 percent to the ground transporter, the diplomat quoted the report as saying.
The rest — about 50 percent of the food aid — is distributed to the needy population, the report was quoted as saying.
WFP spokesman Greg Barrow said the agency had no comment until it had time to study the report.
Also See: Food shortages drive new foreign land grab in Africa
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
RSS