PLANE CHARTERED BY WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME WILL ATTEMPT RELIEF OF AID WORKERS STRANDED IN EASTERN ZAIRE

21 October 1996

Press Release
WFP/1037

PLANE CHARTERED BY WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME WILL ATTEMPT RELIEF OF AID WORKERS STRANDED IN EASTERN ZAIRE

19961021 Government Relents to Allow Flight to Strife-Torn Region, Scene of Fighting Between Troops and Ethnic Tutsis

ROME, 21 October (WFP) -- The World Food Programme (WFP) will attempt to evacuate stranded United Nations and non-governmental organizations personnel tomorrow (Tuesday) following a last-minute decision by authorities in Zaire to allow a WFP-chartered aircraft to fly into strife-torn Uvira in the eastern part of the country.

The number of United Nations and other aid workers stranded at Uvira is estimated between 44 and 54, including two WFP staff members. The aid workers are fleeing the fighting between Zairean troops and ethnic Tutsis, originally from Rwanda but who have been living in Zaire for several generations.

A WFP-chartered Hercules plane has twice tried to fly into Uvira and twice was denied permission to land by Zairean authorities who had insisted that the plane first stop at Bukavu.

There are reports that refugees are abandoning the camps and that a mass exodus of more than 200,000 people has began. However, other estimates indicate there may be less than 100,000 refugees fleeing the fighting. The WFP has been providing emergency food rations to some 225,000 refugees in the Uvira refugee camps.

The Programme is the largest international food agency. Last year it fed more than 50 million people, including half of the world's refugees and internally displaced people.

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