Britain's foreign aid has fallen into hands of al-Qaeda, DfiD admits

The West is doing a great job keeping Al Qaeda well armed and well fed.

Telegraph

Almost half a million pounds of British taxpayer-funded aid and equipment has fallen into the hands of al-Qaeda, the Department for International Development has admitted

Good to see it's not only Americans who are flipping the bill to keep our allies, Al Qaeda, supported

The terror group’s Somali franchise, al-Shabaab, “confiscated” the equipment from DfID contractors in multiple incidents over at least three months before any action was taken.

The admission is contained in the small print of the department’s latest accounts, which say that £480,000 worth of “humanitarian materials and supplies” was written off following repeated “confiscations” by al-Shabaab

Sir Gerald Howarth, a Conservative MP, said: “There is huge public concern at the relentless increase in overseas aid. Incidents like this, where British taxpayers’ money is diverted into people fighting against us, are not acceptable. DfID owes it to the public to exercise the utmost care with its money.”

DfID refused to specify what the lost supplies were, but an aid industry expert said the value suggested a “huge amount” of material that could keep the terrorists going for a “fairly long time”.

Aid industry sources said dried foodstuffs of that value could feed 20,000 people for more than a year. “It is surprising that no action was taken, which suggests that, at best, DfID was asleep to the loss of its property and, at worst, that its local partners were colluding with the terrorists,” the aid expert said.

DfID said its contractors had “no prior warning of the confiscations” and therefore “no time to prevent the loss by relocating goods”.

The accounts show the confiscations took place between November 2011 and February 2012 and from multiple locations. It said an investigation was made into the losses but did not reveal the findings.

I'm happy to report Gov't paid contractors are once again doing a fantastic job. Congrats guys on a job well done!

A spokesman for DfID said: “DfID works in some of the most dangerous places in the world, including Somalia, because tackling the root causes of poverty and instability there ensures a safer world and a safer UK.

“Working in conflict-affected and fragile states carries inherent risk. DFID does all it can to mitigate against this but, on occasion, losses will occur.

“We work with our partners to design programmes that protect our investment from misuse or theft.”

The supplies were in warehouses seized by al-Shabaab and were later believed to have been set ablaze, they added.

I'm sure they'll figure it out, no worries.


This thread was brought to you by Sarcasm.

I'm willing to bet if this DfID was ordered to PAY BACK the amount "confiscated" in real cash, it would be resolved quite readily. The money paid back should then go directly to the country that made the original donation. Also, once at the country of origin, it should NOT be put back into the program, but into the local social services of the tax payers that funded it in the first place.

Just my 2 pence....

Pay no mind.... The US and UK are just busy winning hearts and minds while gaining good will all over. Al Qaeda have hearts and minds too, right? Someone just figured they'd be friendlier if holding OUR weapons instead of their own I guess.

Every other hair brained idea is being giving a go these days, why not that? Peace through supplying superior firepower to the enemy? Sounds almost sane in the world we find today.

reply to post by Krakatoa


Oh stop, you silly man, no Gov't has to be accountable for their actions, employees, or decisions, only citizens are held to such standards. But imagine that, the Gov't OR the contractors paying for the losses.

My BIG concern is that now Al Qaeda has the ability to feed its militants for over a year, well if their numbers are at 20,000, but if not and their numbers are lowers then Al Qaeda can feed their fighters for YEARS...

Fail.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


The fastest way to win hearts and minds is to fill their bellies.

I wonder if any of the packages contained some sort of tracking devices/transmitters ? You know to perhaps locate the bad guys Just a thought.