By Ariel David, The Associated Press

ROME - The United Nations says it's running out of food for millions of starving Somalis in part because the United States is delaying aid amid fears it could be intercepted by militants linked to al-Qaida.

Starting last month, the U.N. World Food Program has cut rations by up to half for some people in the lawless, impoverished east African nation and will run out of supplies in December, the Rome-based agency said Saturday.

"WFP's food assistance supply line to Somalia is effectively broken," said Peter Smerdon, a spokesman for the agency in Nairobi, Kenya. "The pipeline break is partly because (the U.S. government) has delayed U.S. assistance to Somalia."

The U.S. State Department confirmed it had concerns that militants could get their hands on humanitarian assistance and had temporarily suspended food shipments.

"Renewal of some U.S. non-food humanitarian programs was delayed while we reviewed conditions on the ground and their impact on our programs," said Laura Tischler, a State Department spokeswoman.

"U.S. food aid deliveries to Somalia were temporarily suspended while we conducted our review," she said. "However, the food aid pipeline for Somalia has not been broken."

The shortfall in aid lamented by the United Nations was first reported Friday by The New York Times.

Other factors contributing to the problem include a drop in donations caused by the world economic crisis and an increased need for aid across the Horn of Africa, Smerdon said.

The United States is WFP's largest donor, providing usually about half of the food aid that the agency delivers to some 2.2 million people in Somalia. The country has been crippled by 18 years of civil war, an Islamic insurgency, high food prices and a severe drought.

So far this year, the State Department says the United States has provided $179 million to help Somalis, including $124 million in food aid.

Smerdon said WFP and other humanitarian agencies were discussing with U.S. officials and other donor countries measures that would prevent aid from being diverted to al-Shabab. The Islamic militant group is linked to al-Qaida and controls much of southern Somalia.

"WFP understands the concern of the United States and other donors regarding the appropriate utilization of resources in Somalia," Smerdon said. "We remain hopeful that the United States will continue to fund food relief programs in Somalia, understanding the difficult and complex political and operational environment in which agencies such as WFP must work."

Smerdon declined to discuss which measures were being considered, citing the sensitivity of the talks.

He said the agency was willing to provide "sufficient assurances" while stressing the "need to preserve WFP's neutrality as a humanitarian actor."

Tischler said the American government wanted to ensure that the delivery of aid in Somalia complies "with U.S. laws designed to prevent potential support to terrorists, including to al-Shabab, and to ensure that it effectively helps the Somalis who need it."

r

cpstf w

BC-20091107-US-Military-Base-Shooting, 11th Writethru

code:2

Update:RECASTS; UPDATES with more quotes from the Texas Islamic leader, former classmate, Texas governor; White House saying Obama will attend memorial service at Fort Hood Tuesday; ADDS background. Multimedia: An interactive detailing the events of the Fort Hood shooting, the biography of suspected shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, and evolving victim profiles is available in the -national/fort-hood-shooting/ folder. AP Video. For global distribution.

See Photos

Local Muslim leader says he had troubling talks with Fort Hood shooting suspect

By Angela K. Brown

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FORT HOOD, Texas - An Army psychiatrist who authorities say went on a shooting rampage at the Fort Hood military post was so conflicted over what to tell fellow soldiers about fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan that a local Islamic leader said Saturday he was deeply troubled by it.

Osman Danquah, co-founder of the Islamic Community of Greater Killeen, said he was disturbed by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's persistent questioning and recommended the mosque reject Hasan's request to become a lay Muslim leader at the sprawling Army post.

Danquah said Hasan never expressed anger toward the Army or indicated any plans for violence, but during the second of two conversations they had over the summer, Hasan seemed almost incoherent, he said.

"But what if a person gets in and feels that it's just not right?" Danquah recalled Hasan asking him.

"I told him, 'There's something wrong with you,"' Danquah told The Associated Press during an interview at Fort Hood on Saturday. "I didn't get the feeling he was talking for himself, but something just didn't seem right."

Authorities accuse Hasan of firing more than 100 rounds Thursday in a soldier processing centre at Fort Hood, killing 13 and wounding 29 others in the worst mass shooting on a military facility in the U.S. At the start of the attack, Hasan reportedly jumped up on a desk and shouted "Allahu akbar!" - Arabic for "God is great!" Hasan, 39, was seriously wounded by police and is being treated in a military hospital.

President Barack Obama planned to attend a memorial service Tuesday at Fort Hood, the White House said.

The military has said Hasan was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan, but family members suggested he was trying avoid serving overseas.

Hasan's relatives who live in the Palestinian territories have said they had heard from family members that Hasan felt mistreated in the Army as a Muslim.

"He told (them) that as a Muslim committed to his prayers he was discriminated against and not treated as is fitting for an officer and American," Mohammed Malik Hasan, 24, a cousin, told the AP from his home on the outskirts of Ramallah, a Palestinian city in the West Bank. "He hired a lawyer to get him a discharge."

The Army major also had previously questioned the U.S. war on terror.

A former classmate has said Hasan was a "vociferous opponent of the war" and "viewed the war against terror" as a "war against Islam." Dr. Val Finnell, who attended a master's in public health program in 2007-2008 at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, with Hasan, said he told classmates he was "a Muslim first and an American second."

"In retrospect, I'm not surprised he did it," Finnell said. "I had real questions about what his priorities were, what his beliefs were."

Danquah said his conversations with Hasan occurred following two religious services sometime before Ramadan, the Islamic holy month that started in late August. He said the soldier, who transferred to Fort Hood from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in July, regularly attended services at the Killeen, Texas, mosque in his uniform.

During his talks with Hasan, Danquah said he told him that Muslims were fighting each other in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories and that American soldiers with objections to serving overseas had recourse to voice such concerns.

"As a Muslim, you come into a community and the way you integrate normally - I didn't see that kind of integration," he said. It was not immediately clear if Danquah had informed the Army about his concerns.

Most of the wounded from Thursday's attack remained hospitalized, many in intensive care. Former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, visited wounded soldiers Friday night at the post hospital. A Bush spokesman said the couple spoke with family members of the wounded and personally thanked hospital staff members and Fort Hood leaders.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Saturday after visiting with the wounded that he was humbled by the conversations he had with soldiers. He said at a news conference that he told the wounded soldiers that the entire state is behind them, and that "there's 24 million Texans praying for them and wishing them well."

Hasan was transferred Friday to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, about 150 miles (240 kilometres) southwest of Fort Hood. Army officials late Friday gave no indication of his condition except to say he was "not able to converse."

-

Associated Press Writers Dalia Nammari in Ramallah, West Bank, and Jessica Gresko in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.