Ken Berwitz

Excertpte from an article published by the Associated Press:

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Up to half the food aid intended for the millions of hungry people in Somalia is being diverted to corrupt contractors, radical Islamic militants and local U.N. workers, according to a U.N. Security Council report.

The report blames the problem on improper food distribution by the U.N. World Food Program in the African nation, which has been plagued by fighting and humanitarian suffering for nearly two decades, according to a U.N. diplomat. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not yet been released.

It calls on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to authorize an independent investigation of the Rome-based food agency's operation in Somalia.

Because of the instability in Somalia, transporters must truck bags of food through roadblocks manned by a bewildering array of militias, insurgents and bandits. Kidnappings and executions are common and the insecurity makes it difficult for senior U.N. officials to travel to the country to check on procedures. Investigators could end up relying on the same people they are probing to provide protection.

Although WFP contracts are supposed to be subject to open tender and competitive bidding, "in practice the system offers little or no scope for genuine competition," the diplomat quoted the report as saying.

The transportation contracts, with a budget of $200 million, constitute the single most important source of revenue in Somalia, the diplomat quoted the report as saying.

"On account of their contracts with WFP, these men have become some of the wealthiest in Somalia," it was quoted as saying.

Some 3.7 million people in Somalia - nearly half of the population - need aid. Earlier this year, the country's main extremist Islamic group said it would prohibit WFP from distributing food in areas under its control because it says the food undercuts farmers selling recently harvested crops.

The group, al-Shabab, also accused the agency of handing out food unfit for human consumption and of secretly supporting "apostates," or those who have renounced Islam.

According to the report, al-Shabab controls 95 percent of WFP's areas of operation, the diplomat said.

It said Somalis with WFP contracts are not only diverting aid but sharing in the proceeds.

A Nairobi-based spokesman for WFP had said previously that internal investigations showed between 2 percent and 10 percent of aid was being sold. Spokesman Peter Smerdon was unable to show journalists that report and had not seen it himself.

Can you possibly be surprised by this?

We all like to think that problems can be solved and that we've done a good thing by contributing to a worthy cause.  But some problems are not solvable and some contributions to a worthy cause are, in reality, donations to murderous thieves who hate our guts and couldn't care less if innocent people starve to death. 

And Somalia is far from the only country this applies to.

I have no answer to any of this. How I wish I did.