The European Union executive has temporarily halted funding for Somalia's World Food Programme (WFP).

This is after a U.N. probe uncovered widespread theft and misuse of food designed to avert starvation. According to U.N. records, the European Commission contributed more than $7 million to the World Food Programme's operations in Somalia last year, a fraction of the more than $1 billion in total donations received.

PHOTO | COURTESY food aid suspended in Somalia

On a bilateral basis, EU member states contributed far more money. It was unclear whether any other countries would likewise withhold aid.

The European Commission's spokesman, Balazs Ujvari, neither acknowledged nor denied a temporary suspension but said: "So far, the EU has not been informed by its UN partners of a financial impact on EU-funded projects."

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According to a senior EU source, the decision was made after the United Nations inquiry revealed that landowners, local governments, members of the security forces, and humanitarian workers were all implicated in taking aid intended for vulnerable people.

PHOTO | COURTESY children eating


According to the official, who spoke anonymously, the aid will be reinstated once the WFP meets further conditions, such as vetting partners on the ground in Somalia. A second senior EU official confirmed that.

A third source, an EU official, stated that the Commission was "actively cooperating with WFP to resolve systemic defects," but that no aid has been suspended.

It identified internally displaced people (IDPs) who said they were forced to pay up to half of the cash assistance they received to those in positions of power to avoid eviction, detention, or removal from beneficiary lists.

PHOTO | COURTESY women looking for water

According to an agency official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the situations in Ethiopia and Somalia were distinct, and USAID had no plans to halt food assistance in the latter.

The Somali Disaster Management Office, which coordinates the government's humanitarian response, stated on Monday that Somali authorities were committed to investigating the findings of the United Nations report while noting that current aid delivery systems operate "outside of government channels."