UN food aid 'causing chaos and violence' in Somalia

Food aid sent to Somalia to combat one of the world's largest malnutrition crises has been criticised by Somali elders for causing violence - and for being delivered at the start of the harvest season.

More than 33,500 tonnes of food aid has been delivered to Somalia by the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) since the start of the year. But in Marere district in the lower Juba valley, farmers and elders said the food distribution had brought chaos and driven down the price of maize by 60 per cent.

"WFP shouldn't have brought it now," said Mohammed Abdullahi Gure, chairman of the elders committee in Marere, who said distribution of the food had caused serious security problems.

Somalia's government has provided its own soldiers to protect the food on its journey from the port town of Kismayo, about 100 miles away. But militias belonging to different clans also operate in the area. In a country where the rule of the gun easily trumps the rule of law, there have already been some tense stand-offs as rival militias try to take some of the food for themselves.

In the village of Mubarak, a militia stole all the food after the government soldiers had handed it over to the village elders. In Hargeysa, a truck carrying oil was looted. Elsewhere in Somalia, there have been deaths. In Galkayo, 300 miles north-west of Mogadishu, nine people have been killed during food distributions.

It is not the first time that Marere's elders have criticised the WFP. After a chaotic food distribution last year, which also took place during the harvest season, the elders wrote to WFP asking the UN organisation not to deliver food again. But, in the past nine months, Marere's elders have changed twice - first the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) then the transitional government took control of the area.

Colin McIlreavy of Médecins Sans Frontières, which has a project in Marere district, said the area had suffered from chronic malnutrition for several years. "It is a result of many people lacking access to good quality land coupled with climatic factors such as flooding and drought. Insecurity has limited people's ability to cultivate their land," he said.

Musa Yusuf Ahmed, 44, was a policeman before the Somali government collapsed in 1991. Now, he tries to make a living from farming, growing maize, beans and watermelons. He normally sells a 50kg bag of maize for 100,000 Somali shillings (about £3.10), but Mr Ahmed said it had dropped to 40,000 (£1.25). "For we farmers it is a big problem," he said. "The food will benefit the people with no money but it will hurt the farmers."

Some recipients of the food aid have also claimed that the quality is so bad they have had to feed it to their animals.

Peter Smerdon, a spokesman for WFP, said the organisation had received "no reports of this kind" from its local partners in Marere. But, he added: "Somalia is perhaps the WFP's worst operating environment in the world at this time."

Droughts in 2006 were followed by flooding at the turn of the year. Insecurity increased across southern and central Somalia at the same time as the Somali government ousted the UIC. After 16 years as a failed state, Somalia's road network lies in tatters.