Somali official slams WFP employees, contracts of "selling food aid"

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MOGADISHU (Sunatimes)- Somali government official says food aid brought into the country by the World Food Programme is sold by their contractors, one of the much repeated charges to WFP following several whistle blows by the international media.

Mahmud Abdi Aliyow, The Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Humanitarian Aid told local Shabelle radio, there is widespread corruption in the handling of food aid brought into the country.

Mr. Aliyow acknowledges food brought into the country in the form of aid is being sold at various markets in Mogadishu and implicated the World Food Programme employees in Somalia and the contractors of being responsible for it. The chairman also said a committee earlier formed by the TFG to address the plight of civilians in areas worst hit by the drought was illegal. He said parliament already has a number of committees and sub committees on humanitarian aid all of which come under his body.

He urged Alshabaab militants to permit the delivery of aid to civilians in areas under their control in south and central Somalia Regions. Although the parliamentary committee on humanitarian aid has rejected the new committee recently appointed to look into ways of delivering assistance to civilians in areas worst hit by the drought, it has done very little to assist displaced people in areas under the government's control.

Somalia has been without government since 1991 after dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted from power by armed warlords who turned the horn of Africa nation into decades of endless war.

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