The action is in response to a UN report on the theft of humanitarian aid meant to feed the country’s impoverished population in Africa.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that the European Union has temporarily stopped paying the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Somalia, citing two top EU officials.
The action was taken in response to reports that a UN study had found a rise in aid theft and misuse in the Horn of Africa, where the WFP had earlier this year forecast that 6.6 million people would experience crisis levels of starvation.
According to a senior EU source who requested anonymity but who spoke to Reuters, the UN inquiry discovered landowners, local governments, security officers, and humanitarian workers all complicit in the theft of food aid intended for the people with food insecurity.
Once the WFP satisfies certain criteria, such as screening local partners in Somalia, the assistance would resume, the source claims.
According to UN statistics, the European Commission helped the organization’s humanitarian activities in Somalia last year with more than $7 million in support. Although individual bloc members are alleged to have made significantly larger bilateral contributions, it is unknown if any of them will follow suit and temporarily halt funding.
According to Reuters, European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari said the bloc had not heard from its UN partners about the financial impact on EU-funded projects. He did neither confirm or deny the suspension of aid.
Despite this, Ujvari said, “We will keep an eye on the situation and uphold our zero-tolerance approach to fraud, corruption, or misconduct.”
Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Somalia stated in a July study commissioned by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that certain authorities forced them to pay up to half of the cash assistance they received. This assertion was made public on Tuesday by the Devex news source.
According to the “highly confidential” UN report, the local authorities, including the police, have imposed a taxation system on users of US-funded help, with threats of detention, physical intimidation, or withholding life-saving assistance for those who refuse to comply.
Food shipments to Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray area were stopped in May by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), who claimed that supplies were being diverted.
According to a senior EU source contacted by Reuters on Monday, the European Commission supports Somalia and Ethiopia through the WFP to the tune of €10 million ($10.69 million).
The US is collaborating with partners to evaluate and comprehend the degree of the diversion in Mogadishu, according to USAID spokesperson Jessica Jennings.
According to Jennings, “[We] are already taking steps to protect beneficiaries and ensure that tax payer money is used to benefit vulnerable persons in Somalia, as intended.”
