Somali government troops storm UN compound and kidnap official

[Robbien]

Source: Guardian Unlimited

Somali government troops have stormed a UN compound in Mogadishu and arrested the World Food Programme chief in protest at a decision to distribute food relief through a network of mosques.

About 60 soldiers forced their way into the WFP offices yesterday morning, taking Idris Osman, a Somali national, into custody at gunpoint and locking him in a cell at the national security services headquarters. No reason was given for the arrest, which promoted an immediate suspension of WFP work in the war-torn capital.

But UN officials said it was linked to a new method of food distribution that began on Monday using 42 local mosques to get aid to more than 75,000 people in the city. The WFP, which is struggling to deal with a growing hunger crisis in Somalia, had been unable to directly distribute food in the capital since June 25 due to violence and looting. "Going through the mosques guaranteed us a level of security that the government cannot give," said a UN official in Nairobi, who requested anonymity.

Though Somalia is almost completely Muslim, the transitional government views mosques, particularly in Mogadishu, with suspicion.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2193233,00.html

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The Somali interim government, which the US appointed and funds, distrusts Muslims. Somalia is a Muslim country but is to be ruled by a government who dislikes Muslims. The UN could not get the government to hand out aid to the starving Somalis so they asked the Mosques to help them. Our solution, we go in and kidnap the UN people and throw them in jail.