Lack of funds delays WFP emergency operation

More than a month after launching a US $7.5 million appeal for drought and rain victims, the World Food Programme has not received sufficient contributions to begin the emergency operation, WFP said on Tuesday. WFP country director, Philippe Guyon-Le Bouffy, told IRIN from the capital, Nouakchott, that Finland and Italy were the only two countries that had so far responded to the appeal launched in early April. Finland donated US $200,000 and Italy gave about $91,000 (100,000 euros), he said. The operation, he said, which was slated to begin in April would not start until the organisation received sufficient funds to purchase the necessary aid items, including rice, salt and cooking oil. Early last month, WFP appealed to donors to help it feed some 250,000 Mauritanians who were threatened by serious food shortages as a result of drought and recent torrential rains. The $7.5 million appeal would mainly go to vulnerable populations living in the southern region of the country. Guyon-Le Bouffy explained that the current dry season had destroyed crops during the farming season and compounded the country's critical food situation. Mauritania will use WFP's next board of directors meeting, due on 23 May in Rome, to urge donors to give more funds, he said.