WFP emergency operation boosted

Relief efforts in drought-hit Zambia have been given a boost with a US $4 million donation from the Netherlands. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it had received the donation towards its emergency operation from the Dutch ambassador to Zambia, Peter Schonherr. "The Dutch people have a long tradition of lending a helping hand when their friends are in need. We are happy today that we are in position to help Zambia with this much needed support as they tackle the food shortages impacting six countries throughout the southern cone of Africa," Schonherr was quoted as saying. "This is the second contribution from the Netherlands to Zambia, and it arrives at a critical time when we have a number of factors working against us. We have a break in the pipeline, and preliminary findings from the latest emergency food needs assessment indicates that the number of people in Zambia who will suffer from food shortages is likely to rise to almost three million before next year's anticipated harvest season," said WFP Representative to Zambia, Richard Ragan. The Dutch funding will be used to purchase almost 10,000 mt of white maize from South Africa. WFP expects the first consignment to start arriving by mid-November. "We will be working with the Vice-President's Disaster Mitigation and Management Unit to pre-position some of these stocks to isolated parts of the country that are often inaccessible during the rainy season," Ragan added. WFP has appealed for US $61 million to feed 2.3 million people in 38 districts of Zambia, and an additional 185,000 HIV/AIDS-affected orphans and vulnerable children in four major urban areas through to March 2003.