U.N. food supply for southern Philippines hijacked
(Recasts with WFP comments, quotes, details)
MANILA, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Philippine police and the United Nations on Friday played down reports rogue members of a Muslim rebel group had seized food supplies from a convoy meant for tens of thousands of people displaced by fighting in the south.
Local police had said earlier that 20 rebels stopped a convoy of trucks sent by the U.N. World Food Programme near a marshland area on Mindanao on Tuesday and took about 60 bags of rice.
Stephen Anderson, country director for the World Food Programme (WFP), told Reuters after checking the report that they were unsure whether the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was behind the attack, saying only that two men had intercepted a truck carrying rice to be delivered to a shelter.
"There was no convoy and only 28 bags of rice were taken from the truck," Anderson said, adding that the rest of the food had reached its intended beneficiaries.
Anderson said there were no WFP staff on the truck because the food supply had been turned over to local officials. He described the incident as "unfortunate" and "isolated".
Regional police chief Joel Goltiao said he had ordered an investigation into the incident.
"It appeared that there was an inside job to steal some food supplies," Goltiao told Reuters. He said that local police had made a hasty report about a rebel attack on a U.N. food convoy without verifying details with people on the ground.
In a statement late on Thursday, U.N. agencies said they remained committed to providing humanitarian relief assistance to conflict-affected communities in the south after another convoy was turned back by soldiers in another area last week because it had failed to coordinate the food shipment.
Since Aug. 11, U.N. agencies have distributed more than 1,200 tonnes of rice to more than half a million people displaced by weeks of fighting in six southern provinces.
Anderson said the WFP had committed an additional 500 tonnes of rice and a small quantity of dates to help feed the growing number of displaced families in the south.
More than 200 people had been killed in fighting between security forces and rogue members of the MILF after setbacks last month in peace talks to end nearly 40 years of conflict that has stunted economic growth in the region.
More than 120,000 people have died and 2 million have been displaced in the Muslim rebellion in the south, a region believed to be sitting on huge deposits of minerals, oil and gas.
On Wednesday, Manila said it had decided to end 11 years of peace talks with the MILF after the rebels failed to stop two of their field commanders from attacking Christian-dominated villages, killing civilians and burning homes and farms. (Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by Paul Tait)
MANILA, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Philippine police and the United Nations on Friday played down reports rogue members of a Muslim rebel group had seized food supplies from a convoy meant for tens of thousands of people displaced by fighting in the south.
Local police had said earlier that 20 rebels stopped a convoy of trucks sent by the U.N. World Food Programme near a marshland area on Mindanao on Tuesday and took about 60 bags of rice.
Stephen Anderson, country director for the World Food Programme (WFP), told Reuters after checking the report that they were unsure whether the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was behind the attack, saying only that two men had intercepted a truck carrying rice to be delivered to a shelter.
"There was no convoy and only 28 bags of rice were taken from the truck," Anderson said, adding that the rest of the food had reached its intended beneficiaries.
Anderson said there were no WFP staff on the truck because the food supply had been turned over to local officials. He described the incident as "unfortunate" and "isolated".
Regional police chief Joel Goltiao said he had ordered an investigation into the incident.
"It appeared that there was an inside job to steal some food supplies," Goltiao told Reuters. He said that local police had made a hasty report about a rebel attack on a U.N. food convoy without verifying details with people on the ground.
In a statement late on Thursday, U.N. agencies said they remained committed to providing humanitarian relief assistance to conflict-affected communities in the south after another convoy was turned back by soldiers in another area last week because it had failed to coordinate the food shipment.
Since Aug. 11, U.N. agencies have distributed more than 1,200 tonnes of rice to more than half a million people displaced by weeks of fighting in six southern provinces.
Anderson said the WFP had committed an additional 500 tonnes of rice and a small quantity of dates to help feed the growing number of displaced families in the south.
More than 200 people had been killed in fighting between security forces and rogue members of the MILF after setbacks last month in peace talks to end nearly 40 years of conflict that has stunted economic growth in the region.
More than 120,000 people have died and 2 million have been displaced in the Muslim rebellion in the south, a region believed to be sitting on huge deposits of minerals, oil and gas.
On Wednesday, Manila said it had decided to end 11 years of peace talks with the MILF after the rebels failed to stop two of their field commanders from attacking Christian-dominated villages, killing civilians and burning homes and farms. (Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by Paul Tait)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved.
Indian models dare to bare