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 GENEVA (AP) - The United Nations hopes to resume food distribution to tens of thousands of Somalis in the country's war-shattered capital now that the government has released a top aid official, the U.N. humanitarian chief said Wednesday.
Idris Osman, head of World Food Program operations in Somalia, was freed in Mogadishu on Tuesday after being jailed for nearly a week. He was seized Oct. 17 when dozens of armed security agents stormed a U.N. compound.
After Osman's arrest, the U.N. agency shut down food deliveries to about 76,000 recipients in the Somali capital, citing security problems. About 1.5 million Somalis need food aid and protection — 50 percent more that at the start of the year — due to inadequate rains, internal displacement due to violence and a potential cholera epidemic, according to the U.N.
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