From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Thu Mar 11 2010 - 09:38:50 EST
Half Somalia food aid is stolen, UN report says
Up to half the food aid intended for millions of hungry people in Somalia is
stolen by corrupt contractors, radical Islamist militants and local UN
workers, according to a leaked UN report.
Published: 11:28PM GMT 10 Mar 2010
The report, by the UN monitoring group in Somalia, blames the distribution
problem on the UN World Food Programme and poor infrastructure in the
country, which has been plagued by fighting and humanitarian suffering for
nearly two decades.
Food aid must be driven through roadblocks manned by 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, according to the report, which was seen by
the New York Times.
The report calls on Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, to authorise an
independent investigation of the Rome-based food agency's operation in
Somalia.
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" a UN diplomat told the Associated Press.
The transportation contracts, with a budget of $200 million (£135 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 characterised 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.
Some 3.7 million people in Somalia - nearly half of the population - need
aid.
Earlier this year, al-Shabab, the country's main extremist group, said it
would prohibit WFP from distributing food in areas under its control because
it says the food undercuts farmers selling recently harvested crops.
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.
According to the report, al-Shabab controls 95 per cent 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 per cent of the food goes to the distributors or
"implementing partners," between 5 and 10 per cent 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 per cent of the food aid - is distributed to the needy
population, the report was quoted as saying.
Greg Barrow, a World Food Programme spokesman, said the agency planned no
comment until it had time to study the report.
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