WFP warns of food shortages

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Friday that unless relief food donations are pledged within the next four weeks for Angola, food supplies will start to run out, threatening at least one million people with serious malnutrition over the months ahead. Insecurity in many parts of the country has forced thousands of people to flee their homes, or to remain in temporary shelters, where they have limited access to arable land, and are consequently unable to feed themselves, WFP said in a statement. In addition, in the last months, an increase in military activity in the country’s interior has severely limited WFP’s access to areas outside the provincial capitals, where nutrition levels have reportedly declined. This has caused the steady influx of people to the nation’s main urban centers where there is some degree of security, and where WFP’s presence offers the possibility of food aid, the statement said. “It is a sheer battle - every month - to secure enough food to prevent people from going hungry,” noted Ronald Sibanda, Country Director for WFP Angola. “Looming ahead is a massive hole in our supply line which will hit hard in January next year. It will be impossible to avoid hunger becoming rife malnutrition unless donations come rapidly forward.” In response to WFP’s appeals, last week the United States announced a donation of 22,000 mt of maize. However, that is not considered enough to meet the current needs of its operation in Angola, and WFP said it hoped other countries would join in providing food. “Overall, donor contributions to Angola have decreased,” said Sibanda, adding that donors who traditionally support Angola have to-date pledged comparatively less than last year. WFP Angola feeds one million people, about 40 percent of the estimated 2.6 million internally displaced people (IDP). More than 60 percent of the food aid for 14 of Angola’s 18 provinces must be delivered by air due to the war. “WFP is caught between having to act as fire fighters, dealing with the emergency of the day, while at the same time, trying to help hundreds of thousands of war victims achieve some level of autonomy,” said Sibanda. “Without peace, this is proving a very difficult task.”