Six thousand tonnes of donated food went unconsumed in Mauritania in recent years due to mishandling and possible corruption, according to the government’s Commission for Food Security (CSA).
The desert country imports more than half its food stock and is already facing a shortage of more than 60,000T for 2009, according to the US-funded food security-monitoring group FEWSNET.
CSA spokesman Sidi Ahmed Ould Ahmed told IRIN two court cases are underway involving corruption or mishandling of food donations from the US and Pakistani governments.
The first case involves a 2005 donation of 5,000T of rice from the United States, which Ahmed said CSA sold to a private company, AON, in 2006. CSA is permitted to sell food donations if the proceeds are used for social programming, he said.
To ward off a crisis caused by spiralling food prices, CSA in June 2008 purchased 3,300T of rice from AON for US$2.2 million for subsidised resale in rural areas. Radhy Ould Leman, who heads food quality inspections for CSA, told IRIN: “The rice we received from AON was unfit for animals, not to mention human consumption.”
CSA’s Ahmed told IRIN that AON simply resold to the government rice it had bought from CSA in 2006, which it had stored improperly.
But in court documents, AON accuses CSA of selling it substandard rice with a starch content unfit for consumption.
Coup leader Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has launched a corruption probe and detained the previous CSA commissioner, ex-Prime Minister Yahya Ould El Waghf who served under the deposed President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdellahi.
AON declined to comment.
Locked-up rice
Another 1,000T of rice, donated by the Pakistani government, sits at Mauritania’s port pending a legal dispute between the Mauritanian Maritime Shipping Company (SOGECA) and CSA.
Spokesman Ahmed said CSA was unaware of the delivery - which according to SOGECA arrived shortly before the 6 August coup - until the newly appointed CSA head discovered a faxed invoice requesting $280,000 for storage and delivery costs.
“We then sent a food analyst to test if the rice in storage was fit for consumption and it was not, so we have referred this case to the court,” said Ahmed.
But a SOGECA manager who requested anonymity told IRIN that the 40 shipping containers of food were delivered in good condition. “We notified CSA in time, we have a signed receipt from CSA and now we expect payment for our services.”
As of 2 March, the rice was still in SOGECA storage pending an investigation, according to SOGECA port officials.
Needs
Mauritania needs more than 650,000T of food to feed 3.1 million people in 2008-09, according to FEWSNET. The organisation estimates that 2008 harvests yielded 266,570T of cereals, while the government is expected to import an additional 329,874T, leaving a shortfall of 60,000T.
CSA’s Ahmed told IRIN the national food reserve is 13,000T, while FEWSNET estimates the amount is about 6,000T.
FEWSET director Hamdy Sy told IRIN that Mauritania’s food security is “precarious” because of poor local harvests, an increase in nomad families settling in cities in recent years and a drop in exports to Mauritania from neighbouring countries as a result of the food crisis.
sos/pt/np
The desert country imports more than half its food stock and is already facing a shortage of more than 60,000T for 2009, according to the US-funded food security-monitoring group FEWSNET.
CSA spokesman Sidi Ahmed Ould Ahmed told IRIN two court cases are underway involving corruption or mishandling of food donations from the US and Pakistani governments.
The first case involves a 2005 donation of 5,000T of rice from the United States, which Ahmed said CSA sold to a private company, AON, in 2006. CSA is permitted to sell food donations if the proceeds are used for social programming, he said.
To ward off a crisis caused by spiralling food prices, CSA in June 2008 purchased 3,300T of rice from AON for US$2.2 million for subsidised resale in rural areas. Radhy Ould Leman, who heads food quality inspections for CSA, told IRIN: “The rice we received from AON was unfit for animals, not to mention human consumption.”
CSA’s Ahmed told IRIN that AON simply resold to the government rice it had bought from CSA in 2006, which it had stored improperly.
But in court documents, AON accuses CSA of selling it substandard rice with a starch content unfit for consumption.
Coup leader Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has launched a corruption probe and detained the previous CSA commissioner, ex-Prime Minister Yahya Ould El Waghf who served under the deposed President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdellahi.
AON declined to comment.
Locked-up rice
Another 1,000T of rice, donated by the Pakistani government, sits at Mauritania’s port pending a legal dispute between the Mauritanian Maritime Shipping Company (SOGECA) and CSA.
Spokesman Ahmed said CSA was unaware of the delivery - which according to SOGECA arrived shortly before the 6 August coup - until the newly appointed CSA head discovered a faxed invoice requesting $280,000 for storage and delivery costs.
“We then sent a food analyst to test if the rice in storage was fit for consumption and it was not, so we have referred this case to the court,” said Ahmed.
But a SOGECA manager who requested anonymity told IRIN that the 40 shipping containers of food were delivered in good condition. “We notified CSA in time, we have a signed receipt from CSA and now we expect payment for our services.”
As of 2 March, the rice was still in SOGECA storage pending an investigation, according to SOGECA port officials.
Needs
Mauritania needs more than 650,000T of food to feed 3.1 million people in 2008-09, according to FEWSNET. The organisation estimates that 2008 harvests yielded 266,570T of cereals, while the government is expected to import an additional 329,874T, leaving a shortfall of 60,000T.
CSA’s Ahmed told IRIN the national food reserve is 13,000T, while FEWSNET estimates the amount is about 6,000T.
FEWSET director Hamdy Sy told IRIN that Mauritania’s food security is “precarious” because of poor local harvests, an increase in nomad families settling in cities in recent years and a drop in exports to Mauritania from neighbouring countries as a result of the food crisis.
sos/pt/np
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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