WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran welcomes sentencing action for murder of WFP staff member in Kenya

GENEVA, Switzerland, February 1, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- All of us at the World Food Programme welcome the decision by the Nakuru High Court in Kenya this week to sentence five men to 56 years in prison each for the 2008 murder of our WFP colleague Silence Chirara.

Nothing can be done to replace the life of this dedicated humanitarian and father, but justice has now been allowed to run its course. These stiff prison sentences send an important message that those who harm humanitarian workers shall be brought to justice.

Our thoughts today are with the wife of Silence and his two children. Silence, a citizen of Zimbabwe, was murdered in the line of duty while helping manage WFP's food lifeline to South Sudan, as head of WFP's logistics base in the northwestern Kenyan town of Lokichoggio.

Across the world, WFP staff and other humanitarian workers are dedicating their lives to saving lives in some of the world's most remote and dangerous places. We condemn in the strongest possible terms any attack on humanitarian workers. When action is taken, this serves as a deterrent to groups or individuals who are targeting humanitarian staff in their places of work.