WFP AIRLIFTS FOOD IN SIERRA LEONE AFTER AMBUSHES MAKE CONVOY TRANSPORT IMPOSSIBLE
Press Release
WFP/1045
WFP AIRLIFTS FOOD IN SIERRA LEONE AFTER AMBUSHES MAKE CONVOY TRANSPORT IMPOSSIBLE
19960110 ROME, 10 January (WFP) -- The World Food Programme (WFP) has begun airlifting food into war-torn eastern and southern Sierra Leone after rebel ambushes on relief convoys made food deliveries impossible, WFP field officials said today.The WFP, the frontline United Nations agency mandated to combat world hunger, plans to airlift more than 500 metric tons of food over the next month -- enough to feed some 100,000 vulnerable people -- to the rural towns of Bo, Kenema and Bonthe from the capital Freetown.
Thousands of people arrived in Bo from nearby Senehun and neighbouring villages, which were attacked over the Christmas and New Year holidays. Scores of civilians were killed and dozens of houses burned in the rebel attack.
Field workers said getting food to the more than 600,000 displaced people in eastern and southern Sierra Leone has been a security nightmare. Rebel ambushes on relief convoys have escalated dramatically in recent weeks. All land routes to Bo and Kenema have been closed and the two surrounding regions virtually cut off.
The situation has reached crisis proportions as WFP warehouses in the affected areas are now almost empty and many new arrivals are going without food as a result.
"The constant attacks on our convoys have made the delivery of our food extremely difficult", said Mohamed Diab, WFP Country Director for Sierra Leone.
"We are worried sick about the welfare of these people, particularly the women and children", he said. "Unless more food is delivered into these areas, we will see frightening levels of malnutrition."
The WFP has requested the Government of Sierra Leone to provide military convoys to escort humanitarian food supplies.
"Airlifting is a very expensive way to deliver food, at least $450 per ton, but we have no choice", said Fatma Samoura, WFP's logistics officer for West Africa.
- 2 - Press Release WFP/1045 10 January 1996
The WFP began distributing the airlifted food to some 30,000 newly displaced people in Bo in the southern part of the west African nation.
The United Nations food agency has been feeding some 600,000 displaced people in eastern and southern Sierra Leone during 1995.
The WFP is giving each newly displaced person a two-week emergency food ration of bulghur wheat, corn-soya blend and oil. Its field reports indicate that more than one third of the country's 4 million population -- or some 1.5 million people -- are displaced and desperate for food. The most needy are women, children and the elderly.
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