UN food aid 'causing chaos and violence' in Somalia

Tribal elders in southern Somalia have criticized the World Food Programme for delivering food aid before and during the harvest season, thereby driving down prices and hurting the livelihoods of Somali farmers. Moreover, many have been killed by soldiers and militiamen at food distributions, which may have been intended more to prop up the fragile transitional government than to protect Somali food sovereignty.

Food aid sent to Somalia to combat one of the world’s largest malnutrition crises has been criticised by Somali elders for causing violence – and for being delivered at the start of the harvest season.

More than 33,500 tonnes of food aid has been delivered to Somalia by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) since the start of the year. But in Marere district in the lower Juba valley, farmers and elders said the food distribution had brought chaos and driven down the price of maize by 60 per cent.

“WFP shouldn’t have brought it now,” said Mohammed Abdullahi Gure, chairman of the elders committee in Marere, who said distribution of the food had caused serious security problems.

Somalia’s government has provided its own soldiers to protect the food on its journey from the port town of Kismayo, about 100 miles away. But militias belonging to different clans also operate in the area. In a country where the rule of the gun easily trumps the rule of law, there have already been some tense stand-offs as rival militias try to take some of the food for themselves.

Posted by Szamko
Just tries to tell the truth.