UN — The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has strongly condemned the looting and destruction of relief supplies in the Somali town of Johar, warning that this will have an enormous impact on efforts to aid the country’s women and children.“Our programmes, including provision of immunization against preventable diseases like measles and polio, operation of feeding centres for acutely malnourished children, implementation of Child Health Days Campaign, as well as provision of safe drinking water will be severely hampered, putting the lives of vulnerable children and their communities at risk,” said Christian Balslev- Olesen, UNICEF Representative to Somalia.

According to a news release issued by the agency yesterday, militiamen raided the UNICEF compound in Jowhar town – located 90 kilometres north of Mogadishu – on 17 May, looting supplies and destroying assets and equipments.

Jowhar is the main hub for the provision of services and supplies to the whole of the central and southern regions of Somalia, noted UNICEF.

The agency said that the cold chain (vaccine storage) equipment has been affected, destroying thousands of doses of measles, polio and other vaccines that were meant to prevent serious diseases among Somali children. Also, supplies of food for the prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition among children were also looted.

Among other things, the incident will disrupt the second round of the Child Health Days Campaign aiming to reach over 1.2 million under-five children and 840,000 women with a high-impact life-saving health and nutritional packages.

“These malicious acts of looting and vandalism that pose a serious threat to the lives and welfare of Somali children must stop,” said Mr. Balslev-Olesen. “UNICEF urges all parties involved to have children’s well-being at heart. Humanitarian operations must not be impeded.”

At least 3.2 million people – or 40 per cent of the Horn of Africa nation’s population – will continue to need humanitarian assistance and livelihood support through this September, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

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