Allegations that “as much as half” of UN food aid for Somalia was diverted to militias, local power brokers and even UN staff based in Somalia, were detailed in a recent UN Security Council report. The New York Times, which initially presented details of the report last week, has reported today that some of the report’s findings have since been called into question.
Due to some of the activities alleged in the report, which was compiled by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia, the United States had earlier pulled back the food aid it provided to Somalia.
Among the allegations reported by the New York Times:
* A handful of Somali contractors for aid agencies have formed a cartel and [became] important power brokers — some of whom channel their profits, or the aid itself, directly to armed opposition groups.
* Somali ministers, members of Parliament, diplomats and ‘freelance brokers’ have transformed access to foreign visas into a growth industry, matched possibly only by piracy, selling visas for $10,000 to $15,000 each…[and]…that many of the people who are presented as part of an official government entourage are actually pirates or members of militant groups.
The report lays blame for many of these problems with the World Food Programme, accusing it of relying too much on local contractors, some of whom may have ties to militant groups like Al Shabab.
Somalia’s president, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed rejected the findings of the Security Council report outright. Also, according to the New York Times, “Several independent experts on the country said that while the report might have had some minor faults, it captured the larger picture accurately.”
Calls for an independent inquiry into the report’s findings have not yet been addressed by the United Nations.
Posted by Michael Lucivero.
