WFP Starts Food Airlift To Children In Eastern DRC, Amid Fears Of Funding Crisis

The United Nations World Food Programme has said that it has
recently started airlifting urgent food aid to at least 8,800 needy people
in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, although it has not yet received
any funding pledges for next year's operations.



More than 70 nutritional centres, run by NGO partners, desperately need
food supplies for children, pregnant mothers and returnees. The situation
prompted WFP to contract several commercial airlines to bring a total of
1,450 metric tons of food into the provinces of North Katanga, Maniema and
South Kivu, where road and rail transport is virtually non-existent.



Despite the high costs, WFP has resorted to airlifts and airdrops several
times this year in order to reach displaced people. The current airlift,
funded by a contribution from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund,
resumed last week when 116 tons of food were flown from Goma to Kindu in
Maniema and Manono in Katanga. It is due to continue until the end of
October.



In Katanga, where thousands of displaced people have returned to their
homes to prepare their fields for the next harvest, WFP plans to feed more
than 125,000 beneficiaries. In Kindu, the lack of food forced GOAL (the
Irish non-governmental organization) to close three nutritional centres
this year - and mothers have stopped bringing their children.



"Some centres have not received food in months and the situation of the
children is particularly worrying. They are in an area cut off by lack of
infrastructure and struck by high rates of malnutrition among the local and
displaced people," said Charles Vincent, WFP Country Director for DRC.



A shortage of funding, especially for logistics, is hampering WFP
operations across the DRC. With some 4,000 tons of food in warehouses in
Lubumbashi, southern DRC, WFP is trying to find various ways - including
rail - of transporting it to Kindu and North Katanga. However, a lack of
available wagons has made WFP investigate purchasing 25 trucks for the
area.



"The continuing electoral process, which is vital for the country's future,
has in no way reduced the considerable humanitarian needs; people remain
severely short of food and other essentials, after five years of war and
persistent unrest in some areas," added Vincent.



"Here in DRC, we are obliged to act like firemen: we put out a blaze, but
we know it will re-ignite unless we provide continuous nutritional support
to those in need, especially children," Vincent said.



The current airlift operation is being financed through a contribution of
US$1.95 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund, which will
also help buy trucks in Lubumbashi.



"We are tremendously grateful for this timely donation as we can react
quickly and deliver vital supplies to isolated areas. But for our
assistance to continue, and have long-term benefits, we need long-lasting
support on a much larger scale from the international community through the
months ahead. The fact that we are not funded at all for 2007 is of major
concern," Vincent said.
















Although the number of people in need of food aid has increased, a lack of
funding has meant that WFP's distributions have fallen from 6,500 tons per
month in 2005 to 4,700 tons per month this year. In addition, WFP has been
forced not only to cut rations, but also to close down two of its
sub-offices over the past year.



WFP aims to feed more than 875,000 people each month, with 7,800 tons of
food. But only 500,000 people are currently provided with rations - and
these are reduced. A total of 35,000 tons of food, valued at US$63 million,
is urgently required to meet food needs from October 2006 to June 2007.. So
far, WFP has only received half that amount and operations in DRC have a
US$31 million shortfall.



Contributions to WFP operations in DRC since 2004 include: United States
(US$79 million); UN (US$11.6 million); Canada (US$10.4 million); The
European Commission (US$9.8 million); Belgium (US$9.5 million); Germany
(US$7.5 million); France (US$4.5 million); Italy (US$3.7 million); Japan
(US$3.5 million); Ireland (US$3.5 million); Finland (US$3.3 million);
Netherlands (US$2.8 million); Norway (US$1.6 million); Switzerland (US$1.2
million); multilateral (US$1.4 million); Luxembourg (US$296,000); Spain
(US$181,000); private donors (US$74,000); Australia (US$63,000); New
Zealand (US$55,000); Lichtenstein (US$41,000); Sweden (US$23,000);







WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency: each year, we give food to
an average of 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs,
including 58 million hungry children, in at least 80 of the world's poorest
countries.



For further information please go to:
World Food Program WFP - We Feed People