The UN World Food Programme (WFP) Monday welcomed Libyas agreement to help cover the costs of its airlift of food aid to western Sudans Darfur region, where up to 3,25 million people will require its assistance.
– This generous gesture will allow for the continuation of WFPs humanitarian airlift of food from El Kufra in Libya to Darfur, said John Powell, WFPs Deputy Executive Director.
The Government of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya has agreed to waive tariff increases on jet fuel for this humanitarian cargo. Without this help, the UN agency would have been forced to suspend the airlift this month because jet fuel was set to rise from 13 to 33 US cents per liter, costing WFP an additional 1,5 million US dollar a month to maintain the airlift operation.
The news comes just in time for WFP. Airlifts are important during the rainy season, when roads in Darfur become impassable and the need for food aid peaks.
Unfortunately, the agencys special logistics operation to move food from Libya across the Sahara Desert to Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad has received just 248.000 US dollar of the 4,5 million dollar needed until February 2006.
WFPs emergency food relief effort inside Darfur requires an additional 562 million US dollar, two thirds of which has been contributed.
– The Libyan corridor has been a vital link to the refugees and internally displaced population by allowing us to dramatically increase the amount of food aid we can deliver, said WFPs Sudan Country Director Ramiro Lopes da Silva in Khartoum.
Since August, Libya has a provided a crucial transportation corridor which allows for substantial deliveries of WFP food aid to be moved by truck and air from the Libyan port of Benghazi into eastern Chad and the three Darfur states in western Sudan.
The airlift began on 7 May with an Ilyushin-76 aircraft carrying the first 38 metric tons of food from Al Kufra to Darfur.
There are currently two daily flights to the North Darfur capital of El-Fasher and the South Darfur capital of Nyala. To date, the airlift has delivered a total of 5.623 tons of food – enough to feed almost 150.000 people for two months.
– It is a relief not to have to suspend this airlift. We are already using all possible means to get food into Darfur. The loss of this route would have made it more difficult for WFP to provide for up to 3,25 million people we plan to assist from August through to October, added WFPs regional director, Abdulla, who is based in Cairo.
WFP on WFP:
WFP is the worlds largest humanitarian agency: each year, we give food to an average of 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs, including 56 million hungry children, in at least 80 of the worlds poorest countries.
WFP – We Feed People. WFP Global School Feeding Campaign. For just 19 US cents a day, you can help WFP give children in poor countries a healthy meal at school – a gift of hope for a brighter future.
Kilde: www.wfp.org
