WFP delivers food to capital

About 168 mt of maize flour belonging to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has arrived in the Central African Republic capital (CAR), Bangui, from the Cameroon port of Douala, WFP officials said on Wednesday. The consignment is part of 1,700 mt to be transported from Douala, the WFP head of logistics in the CAR, Marcelin Grebaba, told IRIN. He said many more trucks loaded with beans, corn-soya blend flour, salt and vegetable oil were expected next week. The food has been held up in Douala for weeks by fighting along the Bangui to Douala highway between forces of the ousted president, Ange-Felix Patasse, and those of Francois Bozize, who seized power on 15 March. Grebaba said food distributions to vulnerable groups in Bangui and in Bouar (454 km northwest of Bangui) would start next week. WFP estimates that at least 200,000 people have been displaced since Bozize first attempted to overthrow Patasse on 25 October 2002 and took control of some parts of the north and centre of the country. Many thousands are said to have taken refuge in Bouar, and WFP reported that none had received any food aid since the fighting began. Following Bozize's successful coup, mobs looted WFP warehouses in Bangui storing 1,800 mt of food. Only a few kilogrammes have been recovered and returned.