A network of Somali landowners, clan leaders, police, and other local authorities have systematically enforced a coercive system of taxes on U.S.-funded aid recipients displaced by drought and conflict, threatening to arrest, beat, or deny life-saving assistance to those who refuse to pay up, according to an independent review commissioned by the United Nations.
The revelation, which is contained in a highly confidential U.N. investigation into the theft of aid in camps for the displaced in Somalia, comes months after the U.S. halted humanitarian assistance in Ethiopia through the World Food Programme, citing concerns that massive amounts of U.S.-funded food supplies in the province of Tigray were being stolen and sold on the commercial market. The findings of the U.N. report — which was commissioned by Secretary-General António Guterres and reviewed exclusively by Devex — have not been previously reported.
The two cases have highlighted deeper concerns about the capacity of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United Nations, and private charities to ensure that billions of dollars of taxpayer money is responsibly spent in the global effort to provide a humanitarian safety net for the world’s most vulnerable.
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About the author
Colum Lynch
Colum Lynch is an award-winning reporter and Senior Global Reporter for Devex. He covers the intersection of development, diplomacy, and humanitarian relief at the United Nations and beyond. Prior to Devex, Colum reported on foreign policy and national security for Foreign Policy Magazine and the Washington Post. Colum was awarded the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital reporting for his blog Turtle Bay. He has also won an award for groundbreaking reporting on the U.N.’s failure to protect civilians in Darfur.
