Overview
- On Jan. 7, Washington paused all U.S. assistance programs that benefit Somalia’s federal government pending accountability for the incident.
- A U.S. Embassy cable says authorities demolished a WFP emergency warehouse at Mogadishu Port on Jan. 3, likely destroying about 76 metric tons of U.S.-donated food.
- The same cable reports that roughly 1,650 metric tons of additional commodities scheduled for early January were diverted to alternative storage.
- An administration official, speaking anonymously in media reports, said the pause is expected to become permanent with remaining aid terminated by May.
- WFP plans to notify Somalia that the demolition breached U.N. diplomatic protocols, and the cable links the episode to corruption tied to port management by a Turkish company.