WFP Demands Safety For Staff In South And Central Somalia

Main Category: Aid / Disasters
Article Date: 22 Jan 2009 - 7:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today it was seeking  a  secure operating environment from all local administrations and armed  groups  in South and Central Somalia to allow the agency to continue providing  life-saving  assistance  in  the wake of the killings of two WFP staff.

"Our  only goal in Somalia as an impartial international organization is to alleviate  the  suffering  of  the  Somali  people,"  said WFP Deputy Chief Operating  Officer,  Ramiro  Lopes  da  Silva.  "We cannot do that when our courageous staff are being targeted."

Expressing  outrage  at the killings by gunmen on 6 and 8 January, Lopes da Silva  said  WFP considered, but opted not to suspend food distributions in South and Central Somalia because this would only increase the suffering of innocent  people  during  a  possible  power  struggle after the pullout of Ethiopian forces.

But  at  the same time as it delivers more food in the coming weeks to more people  to  feed  them  until  the  end  of  February, WFP demands concrete commitments from community leaders and local parties that WFP staff will be protected in order to keep operating in the coming months.

"With  the  murder  of  two  of  our  staff within three days, we initially considered  suspending  WFP food distributions until security improves. But such  a  step would hurt the very people we seek to help - especially women and  children  suffering  the  most from this merciless conflict," Lopes da Silva  said,  adding  that WFP was in the process of delivering some 57,000 metric  tons  of  food  in  South  and Central Somalia - enough to feed 2.5 million people for 1-2 months.

"We  want  community  leaders to step forward and offer us clear assurances that  WFP  workers  will  be  able  to carry out their humanitarian work in safety," Lopes da Silva said.  "We will continue distributing food in those areas  where we receive concrete security commitments, but we will not work in areas where security commitments are absent."

Some  of  the worst conflict since 1991, drought, high food and fuel prices and  the  internal  displacement  of 1 million people since early 2007 have increased  the number in need of humanitarian assistance in Somalia to 3.25 million  -  nearly  half the entire population. Malnutrition among children under five remains well above emergency levels in many areas.

On  January  6,  three  masked  gunmen  shot  and killed 44-year-old Somali national Ibrahim Hussein Duale, while he was monitoring school feeding in a WFP-supported school in Yubsan village, six kilometres from the Gedo region capital of Garbahare.  Witnesses say the gunmen approached him while he was seated, ordered him to stand up and then shot him.

On  January  8,  three  gunmen  shot and killed 49-year-old Somali national Mohamud  Omar  Moallim  while  he  was  monitoring  a  food distribution to displaced  people in a camp northwest of Mogadishu. The killings brought to four the number of WFP staff killed in Somalia since August 2008.

Five WFP-contracted transport staff were killed in 2008. WFP has repeatedly demanded  that  armed  groups  protect humanitarian workers and assistance. Amnesty  International  says  that  over  40  civil  society  activists and humanitarian workers were attacked and killed in 2008.

WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency and the UN's frontline agency for hunger solutions. In 2009, WFP aims to feed around 100 million people in 77 countries.

WFP