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WFP halts food aid in Somalia
18/10/2007 09:47 - (SA)
Mogadishu - A United Nations agency suspended emergency food distributions meant to help tens of thousands in Somalia's war-ruined capital, after dozens of heavily armed attackers stormed a UN compound and detained the official overseeing food aid.
The World Food Programme (WFP) called for the immediate release of Idris Osman, a Somali in charge of the agency's efforts to help feed people in Mogadishu, a city in shambles after more than a decade and a half of chaos and war.
WFP said in a statement on Wednesday that between 50 and 60 Somali government security forces, some in uniform, entered the compound and seized Osman, who was being held in a cell near the presidential palace. No shots were fired, said WFP.
At UN headquarters in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded Osman's immediate and unconditional release, and called the entry into their compound "forceful and illegal," according to spokesperson Marie Okabe.
WFP suspends food distribution
At least 1.5 million Somalis were in need of food aid and protection due to inadequate rains, continuing internal displacement and a potential cholera epidemic, said Okabe, citing the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Somali Interior Minister Mohamed Mohamoud Guled denied that government officers carried out any operation at the UN compound.
But he said the WFP recently distributed food aid without consulting the government, which in recent months had blocked distributions to areas perceived to be against the government.
Citing staff safety, the WFP said it was suspending distribution for a feeding programme using government-approved mosques - a programme that began on Monday and was aimed at easing the plight of 75 600 people in Mogadishu.
8 civilians, cop killed
It said: "In the light of Mr Osman's detention and in view of WFP's duty to safeguard its staff, WFP is forced immediately to suspend these distributions and the loading of WFP food from our warehouses in the Somali capital."
The incident followed some of the heaviest fighting in weeks in the capital. Overnight, at least eight civilians and one policeman died during an hours long battle between Islamic insurgents and policemen, said residents and the police on Wednesday.
The civilians killed during the late Tuesday battle died after mortars crashed into their houses during fighting that began after 100 insurgents blasted a police station in the south of Mogadishu with heavy machine-guns and rocket propelled grenades, residents said.
Abdullahi Hussein said: "Buildings shuddered and weapons exchanged by the two sides illuminated the sky of the city."
Abdi Haji Nur, a businessman, said the insurgents captured the station, forcing about 30 policemen to flee.
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