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Somalia: Canadian navy to escort WFP ships carrying aid to Somalia Thu. August 07, 2008 02:46 am.- By Bonny Apunyu. - (SomaliNet) Canada's government said Wednesday that a Canadian navy frigate is being deployed to the coast of Somalia to escort World Food Programme ships carrying humanitarian aid to the region beset by pirates. Defense Minister Peter MacKay in a statement that HMCS Ville de Quebec, at the request of the UN World Food Programme and the UN International Maritime Organization, has been dispatched "to ensure their safe arrival at designated ports". "Food supplies are urgently needed in Somalia but deteriorating security has made delivery difficult by land and sea," he said. "Canada is stepping up to the plate." Formal authorization from Somalia's transitional government to enter its territorial waters over "the next few weeks" is still being sought, he added. Somalia has been beset by instability and insecurity for almost 20 years and is further affected by regional droughts and increasing world food prices. Currently, over 2.4 million Somalis rely on food aid, of which, 80 percent arrives by sea. While pirates have launched 31 attacks on vessels off Somalia's eastern and northern coasts, to date no escorted World Food Programme ships have been targeted. Over the last eight months, France, Denmark and the Netherlands have also provided naval escorts for the UN agency News Category: Somalia Latest Headlines Latest News Tanzania: Comoros president hails Tanzania as l... Somalia: Steps being taken to free two foreign jour... Soccer: Kenya Tusker Football Club sacks coach Sudan: Darfur police raid victims shun being ai... Botswana: Two South Africans jailed for 18 years in ... Sudan: Sudanese passenger plane hijacked after ... Egypt: Israeli Defences Minister in Cairo for talks ... Angola: Ruling party may clean sweep in Angolan poll... Somalia: President Yousuf, Prime Minister ink deal... Zimbabwe: President Mugabe heckled, jeered in parlia... More News...