WFP flights take off amid landing fee dispute

World Food Programme (WFP) flights in Angola took off as normal on Monday after the Ministry of Assistance and Social Reintegration (MINARS) promised to help resolve a dispute over landing fees, WFP said. ENANA, Angola's national airport administrator, had threatened to halt the flights - which transport vital food aid to around a million hungry Angolans and give access to remote areas for thousands of aid workers - unless WFP paid all airport taxes, including navigation, landing, passenger and parking fees by last Saturday. But the UN food agency has an agreement with MINARS that all costs relating to its humanitarian flights are to be borne by the government. "On Thursday, 21 October, we had a meeting with MINARS minister Joao Baptista Kussumua and we put our problem down on the table. The minister pledged to do something about it," WFP country representative, Rick Corsino, told IRIN. "ENANA is looking for evidence that a solution is being worked out and I think that may have taken some of the pressure off us ... But we will continue to monitor the situation closely," he added. Each month WFP distributes around 10,000 metric tonnes of emergency food aid to 1.1 million Angolans unable to feed themselves after a brutal 27-year conflict ended in April 2002. The agency also offers a free passenger service for around 2,000 staff per month from the UN, NGOs and the donor community, to and from areas where humanitarian assistance is being provided but which remain largely inaccessible. The Angolan government pays for the fuel, helping to substantially reduce the costs of the operation.