WFP SIGNALS HUMANITARIAN CRISIS UNFOLDING IN EASTERN CONGO;

NEED FOR URGENT AIRLIFT

(Reissued as received.)

NAIROBI, 8 May (WFP) -– The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today warned that a humanitarian crisis is surfacing in the northern Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as desperate men, women and children begin arriving in towns in search of help, after years of isolation due to civil conflict.

The WFP is quickly deploying more emergency staff to various parts of the country to respond to the extreme humanitarian needs.  As aid workers gain access to cut-off areas also in North and South Kivu, the WFP is prepared to find populations in a similarly grave condition as those seen in northern Katanga.

The agency said it plans to urgently launch an airlift of emergency supplies to a number of isolated locations, where people are in dire need of food.  The WFP will be appealing to donors to fund the airlift which will be expanded as needs are identified.

However, the WFP is facing a major funding crunch, with its current DRC operation to feed 1.4 million people only 30 per cent resourced, and $43 million still needed to feed soaring numbers of hungry Congolese until the end of 2001.  Food needs have more than doubled this year in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“We estimate that tens of thousands of people who have been repeatedly displaced by insecurity or have been trapped deep in the bush by armed militias are extremely hungry and malnourished, while hundreds of thousands more are in need of food aid”, said Claude Jibidar, WFP Coordinator for eastern DRC, speaking about northern Katanga province.

Mr. Jibidar, who recently returned from a first-time WFP food delivery to the rebel-held town of Manono, saw throngs of mothers and children, extremely emaciated or bloated from malnutrition and wearing only shreds of clothes.  They were congregated on the town’s hospital grounds, anxiously awaiting much-needed relief food.  Roughly 23 per cent of children under five of Manono’s 25,000 population are malnourished, and 19 per cent severely so.

The one tonne of WFP relief food delivered to Manono during Mr. Jibidar’s trip aboard a small aircraft began to be immediately distributed to the 200 most

malnourished children in the feeding centre; this will barely last a week as more and more malnourished people are streaming into Manono.  Milk provided by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) was also flown in from Goma.

As the UN peacekeepers (MONUC) take up positions within the DRC, one of the main obstacles currently faced by the WFP in feeding people is the lack of air capacity.  Over the coming days, the WFP would like to urgently deliver some

650 MT of food into areas of northern Katanga which can only be reached by air.  Barges are currently pre-positioning the needed food stocks into Kalemie, from where it will be delivered.

“Although humanitarian relief has started to trickle in to a handful of towns in northern Katanga like Manono, widespread insecurity and decimated roads are major obstacles to feeding thousands of more people in dire need”, said

Mr. Jibidar.

A recent assessment mission to another northern Katanga town, Kiambi, by the WFP and its partner, Nuova Frontiera (an Italian non-governmental organization), revealed that 11 children under five per 10,000 were dying daily, with fever and malnutrition the cause in one third of the cases.  The WFP is trying to reach Kiambi in the coming days should security conditions permit.  The malnutrition rates, including for severe malnutrition, are unacceptably high.

“There is a direct correlation between these alarming levels of malnutrition and the multi-layered war which has rendered hundreds of thousands of people without the ability to survive”, said Mr. Jibidar.  “It is shocking to see the numbers of hungry lining up for food in Kalemie and Nyunzu in northern Katanga which used to be the breadbasket of the region, exporting food throughout DRC.”

Since December 2000, the WFP has been providing food in areas in northern Katanga through Nuova Frontiera, which has been opening up and supplying acutely needed health care and feeding programmes as quickly and widely as possible. Through this non-governmental organization, the WFP is currently feeding some 5,000 people in Kalemie, including 800-900 malnourished children in therapeutic and supplementary feeding programmes.  In the town of Nyunzu, which opened up in March, the WFP also supplies food to 700 malnourished children.  Most recently, the agency has sent food to Manono, where Nuova Frontiera has just re-opened the defunct hospital in the sweltering war-ravaged town, south-west of Kalemie. 

“Although many people are coming out of the bush or from their besieged communities -- searching for treatment as a few health and nutritional feeding centres re-open -- insecurity still persists in northern Katanga which blocks help being available to all”, said Mr. Jibidar.  “Problems will continue despite the arrival of the UN observers who verify the DRC ceasefire in towns such as Manono and Kalemie, because many of the armed groups active in northern Katanga are not party to the agreement and are, in fact, filling the vacuum left by the withdrawing State troops.”

The food situation for thousands more people in North and South Kivu, such as Shabunda, Lulingu and Kasika, remains precarious and urgent assistance is needed, pending safe access.  People are reported to be hiding in the forests, from where some slowly emerge, malnourished and almost naked.

WFP’s assistance to northern Katanga dates back to January 2000, with support to feeding centres run by the ACF (Action contre la faim) in towns like Moba, and food security programmes with the FHI (Food for the Hungry).  A lack of logistics capacity such as aircraft and continuous insecurity has prevented assistance from being sent further inland.

Donors who have already contributed to WFP’s $61 million requirement for 2001 are:  Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States.

Note:  Recent WFP video footage on DRC/northern Katanga is available, as are digital stills.

The WFP is the United Nations’ front-line agency in the fight against global hunger.  Last year, the WFP fed more than 83 million people in 83 countries, including most of the world’s refugees and internally displaced people.

The Global Campaign for Children’s Education

As the largest provider of nutritious meals to poor school children, the  WFP has launched a global campaign aimed at ensuring that the world’s 300 million undernourished children are educated.

For more information, please contact:

Brenda Barton                 WFP Information Officer, Nairobi Tel. + 254 2 622 594	Trevor Rowe WFP Chief Spokesperson, Rome Tel. + 39 06 6513 2602
Christiane Berthiaume               WFP Information Officer, Geneva     Tel. + 41 22 917 8594	Claude Jibidar WFP Eastern DRC Coordinator Tel + 871 762 210 280; 250 85 18323

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