- Title: Somalia aid theft a daily reality for country's most vulnerable
- Date: 19th September 2023
- Summary: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (SEPTEMBER 17, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CHILDREN IN AN IDP CAMP VARIOUS OF UNIDENTIFIED IDP RESIDENT SITTING ON A CHAIR (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) UNIDENTIFIED IDP RESIDENT SAYING: “There is also a cash programme in which your fingerprints and photos are taken then you wait for about two months. Then they say, come the photos have come. We are called out and told there is $130 in your sim card. You are told this is your money take it. After the aid agency that brought the money leaves, the chairman of the camp asks for the sim cards or e-voucher cards. This is done to everyone." VARIOUS OF IDP CAMP RESIDENT SETTING UP A MAKESHIFT TENT UNIDENTIFIED IDP RESIDENT WASHING A DISH UNIDENTIFIED IDP RESIDENT SEATED ON A CHAIR (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) UNIDENTIFIED IDP RESIDENT, SAYING: "When there is food aid distribution, they come with government forces to the camps. They also give some cash to the soldiers. When the soldiers leave, the camp owners turn round on you to take the food you were given. You miss the food and instead get $ 4. And if you make noise, you lose the $ 4. They say, how can you reject the $ 4, you get up from the sacks of food and get out. No other option, you have to take the $ 4 and go into your tent.’’ VARIOUS OF CHILDREN SITTING NEXT TO THEIR MAKESHIFT TENT MOGADISHU, SOMALIA ( SEPTEMBER 19, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF IDP CAMP LEADER, MOHAMED AHMED, WITH HIS FAMILY (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) IDP CAMP LEADER, MOHAMED AHMED, SAYING: “There are no IDPS who are asked to sit on sacks and then denied the food. That is fabricated story. They are given cards and easily retrieve their money and buy with it what they need. Nobody goes after IDPs, nobody takes money and food from IDPs." AHMED SEATED IN THE IDP CAMP (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) IDP CAMP LEADER, MOHAMED AHMED, SAYING: "We have not seen food looted by gunpoint. And in case it happened it was in the past years because of the chaos back then. This happened in the past years. But we have not seen looting recently." MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (SEPTEMBER 17, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FAMILY SITTING IN FRONT OF THEIR MAKESHIFT TENT
- Embargoed: 3rd October 2023 14:43
- Keywords: Food aid Somalia WFP crisis hunger suspension
- Location: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
- City: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
- Country: Somalia
- Topics: Africa,Overseas Development Aid,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001314819092023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:For Somalis who reached this camp in the capital Mogadishu after fleeing hunger and conflict in the countryside, the $130 per month they were promised to feed their families was a godsend.
But they quickly learned there was a catch, two beneficiaries of aid at the Muri camp told Reuters.
"After the aid agency that brings the money leaves, the chairman of the camp asks for the SIM cards," said a mother of six from central Somalia.
Another internally displaced woman described how camp leaders would take away the food they were given even though distribution happens under the guard of government security.
Both beneficiaries spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The chairman of the camp, Mohamed Ahmed, denied the allegations to Reuters. "We have not seen food looted by gunpoint. And in case it happened it was in the past years because of the chaos back then. But we have not seen looting recently," he said.
Alleged schemes similar to the ones described litter a confidential U.N. report commissioned by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that said its findings suggest the theft of aid in Somalia is "widespread and systemic".
In response to the report, which was written about by Reuters and the Devex media outlet on Monday, the European Union has decided to temporarily suspend funding for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Somalia, two senior EU officials said.
(Production: Abdirahman Hussein, Mukelwa Hlatshwayo) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None