NAIROBI, Kenya, March 6 (UPI) -- The U.N. World Food Program is facing difficulties in contracting ships to deliver food aid to Somalis after an empty ship was hijacked.
The WFP urged for a swift end to the impasse Tuesday, citing concerns for welfare of the crew.
"With every day that goes on, the ordeal becomes so much worse for the crew and their families," said WFP Country Director Peter Goossens. "The incident is also having a very negative impact on our ability to contract commercial ships to deliver food to vulnerable families in Somalia."
The U.N.-chartered vessel was attacked by pirates off the northeast coast of Somalia 10 days ago, as it returned to Mombasa from completing a contract delivery of WFP food aid to Berbera and Bossaso. Six hijackers remain in control of the vessel and the 12 crew members aboard.
Despite calling for shipping contracts a week ago, there has been no expression of interest. The WFP already has 2,423 metric tons of food aid waiting at a port in Tanzania. Competitive bids are usually received within days.
"This is a direct result of the hijacking and it threatens our ability to get food into Somalia ahead of the upcoming rainy season," said Goossens.
The hijacking was the fourth such attack on U.N. supply vessels off Somalia in 20 months. In 2005, following two hijacks, the WFP had to temporarily suspend deliveries of food aid by sea for weeks. Since then, sea deliveries have been uninterrupted.
In 2006, the WFP delivered approximately 78,000 metric tons of relief food to 1.4 million people affected by drought and floods in southern Somalia.
