The State Department will permanently terminate U.S. foreign assistance to Somalia after the country’s government demolished a warehouse holding 76 metric tons of American donated food, a senior administration official told The Daily Wire.
According to a diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Somalia dated January 6, Somali authorities demolished the World Food Programme Emergency Response Warehouse at the Port of Mogadishu on January 3 at the direction of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the Federal Government of Somalia, The Daily Wire reported.
The demolition occurred without prior notification or coordination with international donor nations, including the United States, the cable said.
The embassy said the action likely resulted in the destruction of the emergency food supplies and was carried out over the objections of the World Food Programme.
The cable cited corruption as the apparent motive behind the demolition.
The Port of Mogadishu is managed by a Turkish company seeking to expand operations, and Somalia’s Minister of Ports was described in the cable as acting as Turkey’s primary agent in the country.
Turkey has expanded its footprint across Somali industries in recent years, often operating under contracts that favor Turkish interests, the cable said.
At the time of the demolition, an additional 1,650 metric tons of food commodities were scheduled to arrive in early January and had to be diverted to alternative storage facilities.
The World Food Programme, a United Nations agency that administers food distribution, said it would formally notify Somalia that the demolition constituted a breach of UN diplomatic protocols.
The U.S. Embassy urged the Secretary of State to consider pausing, canceling, or postponing American assistance to Somalia until the government returned or compensated donors for the destroyed food aid.
On January 7, the State Department announced it had paused all U.S. assistance programs benefiting the Somali Federal Government, stating that any resumption would depend on Somali authorities taking accountability for their actions.
However, the senior administration official said the pause would become permanent, with all aid officially ending by May.
Somalia’s ports minister had issued an eviction notice to the World Food Programme in December, but Somali officials later claimed the warehouse could continue operating while a final decision was pending.
The port manager later asserted the food had been moved into containers and remained accessible.
The World Food Programme disputed that claim, saying the food likely spoiled because it required specialized storage conditions.
The destroyed supplies were donated by American taxpayers through the Title II Food for Peace program and International Disaster Assistance.
The World Food Programme oversees distribution of the aid.
The disappearance of U.S. food aid comes amid longstanding allegations of corruption within Somalia’s humanitarian system.
Somalia parliament member Abdillahi Hashi Abib, who serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote to U.S. officials warning that 90 percent of Somalia’s humanitarian assistance comes from the United States and that the Somali Disaster Management Agency has been defrauding donors.
Abib said aid funds have been captured and monetized by a single family network and its clan affiliates.
He alleged that three brothers of the agency’s chairman each receive $15,000 monthly salaries, paid through their wives, while the agency’s finance department and training unit are run by the chairman’s uncles.
Abib also claimed that food donations from the United States, European Union, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and China are routinely sold in Mogadishu markets after staged photo opportunities.
He said starving civilians are paid small sums to pose for photographs with food before it is taken away and sold.
By diverting aid intended for between 8,000 and 12,000 families, Abib said the network generates roughly $500,000 per month.
He also alleged widespread cost inflation, citing cases where ambulances and fire trucks costing $100,000 were billed to donors at $300,000.
