WFP appeals for US $65 million

The UN World Food Programme reported on Thursday it needed US $65 million to care for hundreds of thousands of homeless and vulnerable people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone where fighting has worsened an already serious humanitarian crisis. It reported that 50,000 Guineans had been displaced since insurgents from Sierra Leone began attacking Guinea in September 2000. At least 300 people have been killed. “This year we have had to partially scale back our operations, from school feeding to food-for-work, to assisting vulnerable groups, because we lacked sufficient funds,” Arnold Vercken, WFP’s regional manager for West Africa, said. The fighting along the Guinea border had, he added, stretched the agency’s resources. In addition, he said, severe malnutrition had risen to 15 percent at a camp outside Monrovia, Liberia. WFP said it would need to feed another 950,000 people in 2002 under its latest Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation.