UN food agency assists 20,800 displaced in Bubanza Province

The UN World Food Programme said on Friday it had provided emergency food aid this week to some 20,800 people who were recently displaced by fighting in Burundi's Bubanza Province. The agency's office in Bujumbura, the Burundi capital, reported that the beneficiaries had received 78 mt of food in initial emergency aid, which was expected to sustain them for seven days. "The distribution to those in need will continue," the agency reported. As security continued to improve in the area, it said, most of the Bubanza displaced had started returning to their hilltop homes. The agency said its teams would evaluate the impact of the fighting on the affected areas, as well as determine the levels of vulnerability and further needs of the populations. The fighting was between the army and Forces nationales de liberation rebels. Besides these displaced persons, the agency also said it reached 22,400 food-insecure people who were unaided the previous week in Kayanza and Karuzi provinces due to distribution constraints. It said 1,278 mt of food aid was distributed in Kayanza, Makamba, Muramvya, Bubanza and Karuzi provinces during the week.