The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have agreed to launch a joint humanitarian programme to assist displaced people in the Afgooye corridor, southwest of the Somali capital Mogadishu. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two organizations was signed in December in Nairobi by Ambassador Atta Elmanaan Bakhiet, the OIC's Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and WFP Somalia Acting Country Director Salman Omer. Both Amb Bakhiet and Omer have expressed their hope that the partnership between the OIC and WFP would be successful, which would allow these two organizations to extend their cooperation in other areas. The agreement said that the OIC would find partner NGOs to distribute food assistance to those in need. An independent monitoring body would monitor the proper distribution of the assistance to those it was intended for. The agreement also mentioned that the OIC and WFP would jointly raise funds for their works in Somalia for the six months duration of the MOU. Some 400,000 people - mostly forced to flee their homes in Mogadishu because of fighting - live in a series of camps along the road leading from the capital to the town of Afgooye.
