Food aid in hands of pirates

2005-09-03 13:40

Nairobi - A ship carrying food aid for the tsunami victims remains in the hands of Somali pirates after more than two months, said a spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme on Friday.

He said: "We received a request through a third party to change the port of discharge", renewing calls for the release of the ten members who were mainly from Kenya.

The hijackers had wanted the 850 tons of rice, donated by Germany and Japan, to be distributed in the central region of Somalia to their clan members.

The spokesperson said: "We'd like to hope that the ship goes to Bosasso, that the food aid is unloaded and given to the authorities and distributed to the people who need it with our assistance."

WFP had since sent more ships to Somalia to replace the hijacked food aid and to continue food distribution in the war-torn country, where more than one million people relied on food aid.

Somali pirates hijacked the United Nations-contracted vessel on June 27. It was the first time in WFP's history that a ship carrying relief food had been hijacked.

More ships had been hijacked off Somalia's vast coastline in a recent spate of piracy incidents including three Taiwanese cargo vessels.

- SAPA