WFP uses barges to transport food

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) this week said it had launched a new cost-effective way of providing humanitarian support to some 485,000 war affected people in southern Sudan, by using barges to transport emergency relief food along the Nile River.

The launch of the cross-line barge operation will drastically reduce transport costs by as much as 60 percent, compared with airlifts, WFP said in a statement. The operation follows last month's signing of an agreement between the UN and Sudan's warring parties, allowing the re-opening of river corridors for transporting humanitarian aid.

The UN agency said improved security in locations both under the control of the Khartoum government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) had made it possible to launch the operation along the Nile from Malakal to Juba.

It said the use of barges along the river Nile corridor was a welcome development in "what remains one of the most expensive humanitarian operations in the world".

The use of barges along the Nile was suspended in 1998 following an attack in which three aid workers were killed and several injured. The current operation is expected to last until August.

WFP also appealed for further contributions, warning that its supplies would be exhausted by mid-July.

It said although the ongoing peace talks facilitated by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) had heralded improved humanitarian access and greater peace prospects for Sudan, massive food aid was still needed to assist some 3.2 million people devastated by 20 years of armed conflict and a fourth consecutive year of drought.