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Canadian Navy to Escort World Food Programme Ships
CF news release NR 08-028, 6 Aug 08
News release link

The Government of Canada is deploying the frigate HMCS Ville de Québec to the coastal region of Somalia for the next few weeks to conduct naval escorts of World Food Programme ships carrying life-saving supplies to the area. The government is acting on a request from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and UN International Maritime Organization. We are currently seeking to receive formal authorization from the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia to escort World Food Programme ships into their territorial waters...

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Rob Crilly The Times September 20, 2008

Aid officials gave warning yesterday that time was running out to feed millions of people at risk of starvation in Somalia, where a war-ravaged population faces its worst humanitarian crisis in 17 years.

Piracy and lawlessness in the capital, Mogadishu, have long made aid operations extremely hazardous. Yesterday, as port workers unloaded sacks of sorghum from a Panamanian-registered cargo ship, United Nations officials said that they desperately needed naval vessels to provide escorts for future aid shipments. At the end of the month the Canadian Navy will withdraw its frigate, HMCS Ville de Quebec, from the region, leaving cargo ships with no defence against the pirates.

Denise Brown, deputy country director of the World Food Programme in Somalia, said that tonnes of food were being brought in to South Africa with no means to deliver it to people in need. “We do not have a firm offer for any naval escort and we have 45,000 tonnes of food which needs to be distributed in October,” she told The Times by telephone from Nairobi.

Three WFP-contracted ships were hijacked during 2005 and 2006, but none has been seized since the escorts began last year. Frigates from France, Denmark and the Netherlands have each taken a turn....

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Somali pirates target tanker, UN food ship in new attacks

AFP October 11, 2008

NAIROBI (AFP) — Pirates seized a tanker and attacked a UN food ship that escaped, officials said Saturday, the latest in a series of incidents off Somalia which have sparked worldwide concern...

...On Thursday, pirates tried to board a World Food Programme (WFP) chartered freighter, MV Al Salaam, after it had offloaded food aid in the Somali capital Mogadishu, but it escaped, the agency said.

"The ship outran the attackers (and) was then escorted by the Canadian frigate -- Ville de Quebec -- until it arrived in Mombasa on Friday," WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon told AFP in Nairobi.

Such attacks have surged even with US warships and navies from other nations currently shadowing hijacked Ukrainian ship, MV Faina -- laden with 33 tanks and other arms...

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HMCS Ville de Québec completes mission: WFP humanitarian operation successfully supported

CEFCOM NR 08.038 - October 23, 2008

OTTAWA — HMCS Ville de Québec has completed its task of escorting ships carrying World Food Programme (WFP) food assistance in the coastal region of Somalia in response to a global request from the WFP and the International Maritime Organization, both United Nations organizations.

Beginning in August 2008, HMCS Ville de Québec provided a naval escort to 10 ships under contract to the WFP to protect them from piracy and armed robbery. Around 36,200 tonnes of food — enough to feed about 400, 000 people for six months — were successfully delivered to Somalia by ships escorted by HMCS Ville de Québec...

...For the 253 Canadian sailors, soldiers and airmen on board, our efforts in support of the World Food Programme have been an eye-opening experience,” said Commander Chris Dickinson, commanding officer of Ville de Québec...

...HMCS Ville de Québec will return to her initial mission, Operation SEXTANT, Canada’s participation in the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1) fleet...