U.N. Halts Food Aid After Hijacking
The United Nations World Food Program said it has suspended aid shipments to Somalia after gunmen hijacked a vessel it chartered and demanded a $500,000 ransom.
The WFP provides an average of 3,000 tons of aid a month to 275,000 people in the country. It said it has only two weeks’ worth of food inside Somalia.
Militias captured the MV Semlow and its 10 crew members a week ago. The WFP said a delegation from Somalia’s new transitional government had traveled to the region to negotiate with local elders and militias.
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