From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Mar 25 2010 - 08:53:34 EST
Exclusive: Somalia funds dry up after aid diversion report: U.N.
Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA
Thu Mar 25, 2010 8:47am EDT
An armed militant from Somalia's Hizbul Islam rebel group maintains order
during a demonstration against the presence of the African Union (AU)
peacekeepers on the outskirts of Mogadishu February 12, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Ismail Taxta
GENEVA (Reuters) - A U.N. report that found aid for Somalia had been
diverted to militants has caused funds to dry up even though the allegations
are unsubstantiated, the top U.N. humanitarian official for Somalia said.
Washington is withholding millions of dollars of aid fearing it benefits al
Shabaab rebels loyal to al Qaeda who control much of central and southern
Somalia and want to impose a harsh version of sharia law in the Horn of
Africa country.
In a letter obtained by Reuters on Thursday, U.N. humanitarian coordinator
for Somalia Mark Bowden said the allegations had created an "adverse climate
of public opinion about Somalia" despite increasing needs.
He was referring to a report by a U.N. panel of experts monitoring
compliance with U.N. sanctions against Somalia and Eritrea that said up to
half the food aid for needy Somalis was being diverted to a network of
corrupt contractors, al Shabaab militants and local U.N. staff.
"The U.N. Country Team is concerned that these estimates of diversion are
not apparently based on any documentation but rather on hearsay and commonly
held perceptions," Bowden said in the letter dated March 23.
"They do not provide the evidential basis for discussion that was the
hallmark of previous Somalia Monitoring Group reports," he added.
He said U.N. agencies were doing their best to manage "financial,
operational and reputational risks to the U.N." in a complex environment
long dominated by a war economy.
"This is already affecting flows of humanitarian assistance and will
inevitably make it more difficult to sustain a humanitarian lifeline to
central and southern Somalia at a time when there are increasingly high
levels of child malnutrition," Bowden said of the allegations.
Agencies describe the lawless nation as the world's worst humanitarian
crisis after fighting killed at least 21,000 people and forced more than 1.5
million from their homes since early 2007. It has the world's highest
malnutrition levels.
The Somalia Monitoring Group also said a Somali businessman linked to al
Shabaab who likely received a ransom paid for kidnapped aid workers was a
contractor for both the World Food Programme (WFP) and the U.N. Children's
Fund in Somalia.
Bowden said the U.N. was looking at establishing a "database of perpetrators
or facilitators of kidnapping," but needed to assess its feasibility,
utility and associated risks.
His letter was addressed to Mexico's U.N. envoy Claude Heller who chairs the
Security Council sanctions committee on Somalia and Eritrea. Heller said
earlier this month that Security Council members want an outside
investigation into the charges.
WFP executive director Josette Sheeran reiterated on Thursday that her
agency's internal investigation had found no proof that its staff or partner
organizations diverted aid.
"We have seen zero evidence," she told a news briefing in Geneva. "We
welcome any external investigation."
The WFP suspended its work in southern Somalia in January because of threats
against its staff and because al Shabaab was demanding payments for
security.
"Somalia is definitely the most dangerous and complex operation we face,"
Sheeran said.
(Editing by Michael Roddy)
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----