Much of the food aid intended for Somalia’s poor is diverted to corrupt contractors, radical Islamist militants and local UN workers, according to a Security Council report.
An unnamed UN diplomat confirmed that “a significant diversion” of food delivered by the UN food program (WFP) is being diverted to cartels who were selling it illegally.
The report by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia, originally tasked with tracking violations of the arms embargo, was very critical of the World Food Program (WFP) and condemned a de facto cartel of distributors.
The Monitoring Group found that WFP transportation contracts are the single largest source of revenue in Somalia and ‘just three contractors receive 80 percent of that business’.
The UN Monitoring Group says that fraud is pervasive (bedragerierne er omfattende), with approximately 30 percent of the aid getting skimmed by the implementing partner and local WFP personnel, 10 percent by the ground transpor-ters and 5 to 10 percent by the armed group in control of the area.
This means that as much as half of the food never makes it to the people who desperately need it.
In addition to the diversion of food aid, regional Somali authorities are collaborating with pirates who operate in waters along the coast, the report says, and government ministers have sold diplomatic visas to pirates and insurgents for trips to Europe.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
