WFP food deliveries in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) last week distributed over 1,000 metric mt of food under various programmes in Guinea. The bulk of the supplies - more than 600 mt - went to refugees in the southwestern region of Kissidougou. Other recipients included children and pregnant and nursing women in nutritional centres in Albadaria, north of Kissidougou, and internally displaced persons in the eastern area of Kerouane, WFP said on Friday.

In Sierra Leone, WFP aid reached some 71,000 people, including malnourished ones, through feeding centres, while children were assisted through school feeding programmes in Kambia, (90 km north of the capital, Freetown) Port Loko (60 km north of Freetown) and Lunsar (60 km northeast of Freetown). Food was also distributed to ex-combatants and a group of 36 refugees who were recently transferred to a transit camp, WFP said.

However, the agency noted that aid in the coming months would be hampered by shortfalls, especially of cereal and pulses. "WFP is already facing or expects to face serious food shortfalls," the report said. It added that one of its partner organisations, World Vision, would help bridge the gap by providing about 2,000 mt of cereal, 200 mt of vegetables and 300 mt of pulses.

Despite continuing insecurity in parts of Liberia, WFP also distributed food in that country. Between 25 October and 7 November, about 7,300 children in Bong County, northeast of Monrovia, received 30 mt of food. Another 3,700 malnourished people received 20 mt through therapeutic feeding centres in Bong and Montserrado - south of Bong - while an additional 90 mt was distributed to some 8,000 vulnerable people in southeastern Liberia.