Jonathan Rugman in Nairobi
Monday, June 15, 2009
One of the UN’s largest international relief efforts is under investigation after it emerged that thousands of sacks of food aid were being diverted from starving refugees and openly sold for profit.
The head of the UN’s $955 million (£580 million) aid operation in Somalia has launched an inquiry after being shown footage showing tonnes of food bearing the World Food Programme (WFP) logo widely on sale in Mogadishu, the capital.
Stacks of bags of maize and wheat and tins of cooking oil — marked “not for re-sale” and bearing the UN stamp — are on sale from ten warehouses and 15 shops in the city’s main market.
About 45,000 tonnes of WFP food are shipped to Somalia from Kenya every month. Mogadishu traders told Channel 4 News that they bought their supplies straight from UN staff. “We buy [food] aid from WFP staff directly or from people they employ,” one market trader said.
“They take us to the warehouses used by the WFP and let us load our lorries. The goods are freely available and you can buy as much as you like, but we usually buy no more than 500 to 1,000 sacks at a time. Just a tonne or half a tonne a day can be shifted more discreetly.”
The food could hardly be more needed. More than a million people have been driven from their homes by fighting in the area, including 117,000 thought to have fled from Mogadishu in the past month.
UN officials say that civil war and the worst drought in a decade have created “near-famine conditions”, with Somalia ranking alongside Darfur as the worst humanitarian emergency in the world. The WFP is charged with feeding 3.5 million Somalis — almost half the population — and is struggling to overcome an operational shortfall of more than $84 million over the next six months.
Britain gave the WFP £9 million for Somalia last year through the Department for International Development and is now deciding whether to give more.
Another market trader described how he invented fictional refugee camps, which were then allocated food that he could sell. “You go to the WFP office and fill in an application form to create a camp,” he said. “When we receive the food, we give out some and then divide the rest between ourselves and the WFP guys who negotiated the deal.”
The scam is, according to Mark Bowden, the former British diplomat who is now the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, “disturbing”. He is urging the WFP to speed up its inquiry.
Many of the sacks for sale are marked: “A gift from the American people”, with the US government’s aid agency, USAID, providing $274 million last year in food and in humanitarian assistance for Somalia.
Peter Goossens, the WFP’s Somalia director, describes food for sale as a “minor phenomenon”.
Jonathan Rugman’s report on Somalia is on Channel 4 News at 7pm
A nation in need
3.25 million people in Somalia are in need of food aid
One in four children dies before the age of 5
One in six children under this age is acutely malnourished
57,000 tonnes of food aid is being delivered to Somalia — enough for two months
90 per cent of it is delivered by ships, guarded by naval vessels to deter pirates
Source: World Food Programme
Diingaal iyo Hymohamed baa ku leh wadaad baan nahay!!!
Diingaal iyo Hymohamed waxay matalaan Colonel Aweys.
Haddii ay Diingaal iyo Hymohamed yihiin dad anshax iyo edeb leh oo saan saan wadaadnimo leh, please support Colonel Aweys.
Maalin ilaah keena waxay halkaan la taagan yihiin afxumo iyo cay iyo diin la'aan.
I'm sure Colonel Aweys is just as bad!
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Waar Midkan Diidgaal, waa kuwii bililiqada lagu koriyay
oo wali waxa uu ku qarwayaa ama u xiisay sarihii ay
bililiqaysan jireen. Waar Aabayaashaa iyo Hooyoyinkiin
xaaraan baan idinku koriyeen oo Diidgaalow adigaa Gaal
Gaal aan dhaafin ah, hadii aad wali Abdullahi Yusuf
ku qarwayso. Qabiil Qadhmuun maa kaa soo Urahayee,
Orod oo Ku noqo Gal Gaduud.. Nacalad baa kugu taale!
Waa dhamaatey wax danbe oo bililiqo ah, ama Shaydan
Dahir Aways sheego ama Aaabaha Bililiqada sheego. Dee
Somaliyi is barataye, Raggiinan waa la ogaadey waxaad
diin ku gabataan ba Allah ayaa Xaqii feeraha ka dilaaciyay
Acuudu bilaahi minsharukum Yaa Munaafiqiin sida
Diidgaal oo isagu DiinDuleeye ah. asaga iyo Aabayaashisba
oo ah ragii bililiqaystey Muqdishu bilic badan..
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Ilaahoow adaan YEEY iga dhigin. Dadka YEEY usuf u yahay
geesi wallee inaysan weligood waxba iska dhicineyn.
Oday tolkiisii ku kalsoonaan waayey oo haddana tigre injirle
kaalmo u doontay bay ku leeyihiin waa geesi oo waa laga
cabsadaa. Hadday saas tahay maxuu muqdisho uga cararay
asaga iyo tigregii uu wataty. O daygaan xitaa YEEY waa
ku kalsoonaan waayay inuu Puntland ku noolaado oo
wuxuu magan gelyo u doontay yemen. Taas baa kuu cadeyneysa
waxa ay YEEY tahay, fulayaal aanan xaninyo lahayn oo dumarkooda
aan waxba dhaamin. Gaal uun bay rabaan inay ku hoos
gabadaan weligood. Habrahiina momo777 oo kale inay idin tiraahdo
geesiyaal waa laga yaabaa, laakiin soomaali inteeda kale u maleyn maayo.
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I mean starved 500,000 people.
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It is well known the corruption of the UN and their workers specially in Africa. The same time the local staff are no better. Remember the scandal with Sahnoun back in the days with Ceydiid's troops who starved about 500 population Bay and sorrounding areas. All the food were given to Ceydiid's militia who were invading many southern locations by his friend Sahnoun, UN.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/bitter-tears-as-sahnoun-leaves-mogadishu-un-crisis-deepens-after-dispute-between-secretarygeneral-and-envoy-to-somalia-1560394.html
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***************** BRAEKING NEWS ****************
It is official! Colonel Yusuf is returning to Mogadishu.
The highly feared Colonel is set to return from his cozy retirement home in Yemen.
It has been confirmed that the Colonel's return is real and it is not a ploy to scare Colonel Awyes and his supporters.
It is well documented that Colonel Aweys has lost many battles against Colonel Yusuf. In fact, each battle, Colonel Aweys fled without giving much resistence.
Many experts have questioned whether this fear is justifieable under the rules of engagement.
Sources close to Colonel Aweys have confirmed that he is aware of this latest developent and in distress. Consequently the Colonel have canceled all of his schedules.
Eritrean authorities are monitoring the situation and Afeworki is preparing the return of Colonel Aweys.
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War wadamo dhan baa la afduubtay adinkana raashin baad
ka hadleysiin. OO meeday dowladii la sheegayay? Haa
ayada mar horaa la iibsaday oo waxba ma qaban karto.
Waa kaasee Kismayo iyo Baydhabo ha lagu arko raashin
UN oo suuqyada lagu iibinayo !!!!!!
Shacabka laga gadayo raashinkii lacag la'aanta ahaa
oo hadana dagaal loogu daray baa laga leeyahay idacadaha
waan u naxariisaneynaa. Ilaahoow dhibkooda idinka
ilaali haddii taasi naxariis tahay.
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This may not be new thing but the thought of knowing that poor people are starving while the very people who were supposed to help them have been shifting the food to their own warehouses for sale.
This has to stop and those invloved in this fraud must be brought into court of law so that others will not steal UN food from those who need it most.
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Would this surprise anyone. I believe so but anyone tha
surprises is naive I guise. This scam started inthe foot steps of
washington. First USAID food is not a gift from the american people.
Their goverment subsedices for their farmers in in order to keep
african farmers down and out of the market. Secondly, their government
gets money from other countries and puts that money into their pockets and
then sends the food already paid twice to somalia or other refugee areas pretendind
a gift from America. Almost every aid agencies is nothing but scam and only those
least educated and uninformed will take as an aid.
Every western country do the same as well. Big scaming agencies are Red cross, Unicef and so on.
check your facts if you think im out of my mind.
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It is not a new scam; it is well known corruption that UN body has been practiced in many parts of the world.
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