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U.N. food aid chief in Somalia arrested

Nairobi: Somali government troops stormed a United Nations compound in Mogadishu and arrested the country head of the World Food Programme (WFP), in protest at a decision to distribute food aid through a network of mosques.

About 60 soldiers forced their way into the WFP offices on Wednesday morning, taking Idris Osman, a Somali national, into custody at gunpoint and locking him up at the National Security Services headquarters. No reason was given for the arrest, which prompted an immediate suspension of WFP work in the capital.

But U.N. officials said it was linked to a new method of food distribution that began on Monday using 42 local mosques to get aid to more than 75,000 people in Mogadishu. The WFP, which is struggling to deal with a growing hunger crisis in Somalia, had been unable to directly distribute food in the capital since June 25 due to violence and looting.

“Going through the mosques guaranteed us a level of security the government cannot give,” said a U.N. official in Nairobi, who requested anonymity. Although Somalia is almost completely Muslim, the transitional government views mosques, particularly in Mogadishu, with suspicion.

The Somali Council of Islamic Courts, which took over the capital last year before being defeated by invading Ethiopian forces, used clerics to help draw in supporters. In a statement, the WFP said the plan to use mosques as distribution points had been cleared with the regional governor, and said the government’s action “violates international law”. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2007

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