WASHINGTON/NAIROBI, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Relations between Somalia and the U.S. hit a low point after Washington said it would pause further assistance that benefits the government in Mogadishu amid a dispute over the demolition of a World Food Programme warehouse.
The U.S. State Department's under secretary of foreign assistance said in an X post on Wednesday that Somali government officials had destroyed a U.S.-funded WFP warehouse and illegally seized donor-funded food aid for vulnerable Somalis.
As a result, he said, Washington was suspending aid to Somalia. The value of the aid was not immediately clear.
A WFP spokesperson on Thursday told Reuters the program had retrieved 75 metric tons of nutritional commodities. A day earlier, another WFP spokesperson said the warehouse containing that same amount of assistance was demolished by port authorities.
A U.S. official said Washington was "glad to hear reports that certain commodities have been recovered," adding that the administration is continuing its investigation into diversion and misuse of assistance in Somalia.
"We’ve urged the Federal Government of Somalia to promptly follow through on their commitment to provide an account of the incident," the official said.
NOTICE TO VACATE
Somalia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier on Thursday had disputed the assertion that the U.S.-provided aid had been stolen, and said it remained in WFP custody.
It said expansion and repurposing works had been taking place in the Mogadishu Port area, where the warehouse originally holding the aid - known as the blue warehouse - was located. Those operations "have not affected the custody, management, or distribution of humanitarian assistance," it added.
The WFP spokesperson said on Wednesday that the agency was working with the authorities to address the issue and ensure the safe storage of food after the demolition of the warehouse.
"The warehouse contained 75 metric tons of specialized nutritious foods intended for the treatment of malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls and young children. The warehouse is crucial for WFP's emergency operations at a moment when almost a quarter of the population (4.4 million people) are facing crisis levels of hunger or worse," the spokesperson said.
A Mogadishu Port Authority shipment handover note, seen by Reuters and dated Wednesday, says WFP took over the food that had been "earlier shifted from the blue warehouse" to another warehouse. The note appears to be signed by a WFP Somalia official and includes a handwritten comment saying WFP will confirm final receipt of the food once a lab test confirms it is suitable for human consumption.
According to a letter to the WFP country director seen by Reuters, Somalia's Ministry of Ports and Marine Transport in November provided official notice that the program was required to vacate the blue warehouse by December 31 as a result of plans to relocate port offices.
MINNESOTA TENSION
In Trump's second term, the Republican president has pursued an aggressive immigration policy that has posed a stumbling block to relations between Washington and Mogadishu. The Trump administration has barred citizens of Somalia from entering the U.S., and last month said it was auditing immigration cases involving U.S. citizens of Somali origin to detect fraud.
It has also leveled fraud allegations against some nonprofit groups in Minnesota's Somali community, with at least 56 people pleading guilty since federal prosecutors under the previous Democratic administration of Joe Biden started investigating childcare and other social service programs in the Somali community.
The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday that any resumption in assistance would be dependent on Somalia's government taking accountability and remedial steps.
Since returning to office last year, the Trump administration has more widely slashed U.S. aid spending, shifting the U.S. priority in Africa from assistance to trade.
On Thursday, the U.S. embassy in South Sudan said it was suspending assistance to an area in South Sudan and considering significant reductions in another area after what it said was South Sudanese officials' interference and the exploitation and theft of U.S. aid.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis in Washington and Ammu Kannampilly and Giulia Paravicini in Nairobi; Editing by Michelle Nichols, Rosalba O'Brien, Deepa Babington, Rod Nickel)
