Big food shipment arrives

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has "warmly welcomed" the arrival of a 33,000 mt shipment of relief food into the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam at the weekend, earmarked to help feed millions of people facing food shortages across Southern Africa.

The US-donated food aid was transferred onto trucks and rail wagons destined for Malawi and Zambia. After Tanzania, the ship is to set sail for Maputo to deliver the remaining 9,890 mt of food for drought-hit Mozambique, a WFP statement said. Trucks take four to five days to reach Malawi from Dar es Salaam.

"The rapid arrival of such a large food shipment will greatly help millions of families suffering from severe hunger in southern Africa," Judith Lewis, WFP Regional Director for East and Southern Africa was quoted as saying. "We urgently appeal to other donor nations to provide assistance and help avert a major humanitarian crisis."

Aboard the ship, the Liberty Glory, was 16,940 mt of maize, beans and vegetable oil for Malawi and 8,500 mt for Zambia. The total food shipment worth US $13.3 million brings the United States contribution to WFP for current relief operations in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho and Mozambique, to US $36.6 million or 80,000 mt of food.

WFP spokesman in Mozambique, Inyene Uyoden, told IRIN the 9,890 mt of food due to arrive in Maputo on Saturday would cover at least two months of feeding operations. WFP has targeted 400,000 people as urgently needing food supplies in the south of the country and some central districts.

Apart from the recent drought, many of those currently facing food shortages were previously affected by flooding in 2000 or 2001, he said.

Joint inter-agency assessment teams are now completing their missions through the six countries hardest-hit by cumulative years of natural disaster and economic crises, the worst the region has seen in at least a decade, the WFP statement said. Their findings are due to be released in early June.

"Given the gravity of the situation that has unfolded in previous weeks, the number of people in need and food tonnage needed is expected to soar after teams complete assessments in the region," the statement said.

In addition to assessing food needs in the region, WFP logisticians have been conducting detailed surveys of the region's logistics corridors.