One dead as Somali troops, residents loot famine aid

One soldier was killed and a dozen refugees wounded when three trucks loaded with food intended for famine victims were looted in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Friday, witnesses said, according to Reuters. Government troops fired shots and fought amongst themselves as they loaded wheelbarrows and minibuses with emergency food provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) at the Badbaado camp on the outskirts of the city, the witnesses said, forcing hundreds of displaced Somalis to flee the camp. Some Mogadishu residents also escaped with food on their shoulders. "(Government forces) looted all the trucks. I'm lucky that my family is safe. I do not know where I'm heading to. I'm running for my life," Aliyow Hussein, a 40-year-old father of three, told Reuters on a street outside the camp. "I took only my plastic sheet and this mat. I could see one dead soldier and about a dozen wounded displaced people," he said, using the sheet to shelter his family from the rain. Some 3.7 million Somalis are at risk of starvation, the majority of them in the south, prompting hundreds of thousands to make the dangerous trek to Mogadishu and its outlying areas in search of food aid. About 100,000 refugees have reached the capital in the last two months and hundreds more are streaming into the city everyday, risking threats of attack by Islamist al-Shabaab militants who control most of the worst-hit drought areas. Sacdia Kassim, a Somali aid worker working for a local charity in partnership with the WFP, told Reuters looting was becoming a common occurrence in Mogadishu. "We often witness government forces and residents looting food for displaced people," Kassim said. "We knew those trucks of food would be looted one day. They were mouth-watering for the government militia. Unfortunately, I saw fleeing IDPs and others running away with the aid food on my way to the camp," she added. The WFP, one of several agencies working to bring aid to Somalis struck by the worst drought in decades, confirmed an incident at the makeshift Badbaado camp, home to nearly 30,000 refugees. WFP spokesman David Orr told Reuters food distribution at Badbaado had begun some time after at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) and carried on smoothly for about two hours. "By all accounts, it got out of hand. It got a bit chaotic and looting of the food started." "It seems that all the remainder was lost," he said, adding there had been 290 tonnes of maize and oil available for distribution. "We've heard reports of fighting breaking out. There have been gunshots, but we don't know if there are any casualties." WFP has said aid groups cannot reach more than 2 million Somalis in the worst-hit areas because the militant al Shabaab movement has blocked access to most aid agencies. It has airlifted tonnes of therapeutic food to feed malnourished children in Mogadishu and Gedo. Government troops and residents generally sell the aid to local markets for cash. Many displaced Somalis feel vulnerable in a city which is not their own or where they have no strong clan links, therefore choosing to flee the camp when fighting breaks out. "All Somalis are hungry. What else would you do if you saw food being looted? You carry what you can to survive," 30-year-old Mogadishu resident Hashim Ibrahim, told Reuters as he rushed outside the camp with a wheelbarrow of rations. "Government forces started the game and we pop in where there is unexpected chance. I will sell half of this food to get some cash. It is not a surprise."