Pirates hamper aid delivery

2005-11-03 21:30

Nairobi - An epidemic of ship hijackings off the coast of lawless Somalia is choking the delivery of relief supplies to more than half a million people facing acute food shortages in the country's southern regions, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Thursday.

"The worsening humanitarian situation in southern Somalia is of deep concern to us and to our UN and NGO (non-governmental organisation) partners, especially with insecurity on the high seas hampering relief efforts," said the WFP representative for Somalia Zlatan Milisic.

The agency is seeking alternative avenues of transportation to help 640 000 people in drought- and famine-ridden southern areas after normal deliveries were interrupted by the recent hijacking of two United Nations-chartered vessels off the coast.

Looking for alternative routes

"Given the insecurity of the coast, we are exploring alternative transport routes, including overland from Kenya and via Djibouti, to reach those in desperate need of food assistance," Milisic said.

"But these other routes raise similar logistical and security challenges," he added.

Despite the epidemic of piracy in the unpatrolled waters off the 3 700km coastline of the war-torn Horn of Africa country, WFP relief efforts continue in southern Somalia where malnutrition rates reach 20%.

Somalia has had no functioning central administration since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Said Barre.

Last month, Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi appealed to Somalia's neighbours to send warships and other naval vessels to patrol the country's coast where the pirates have become increasingly brazen.

At least 23 hijackings and attempted seizures have been recorded in the Somalia coastline since mid-March, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

- AFP