WFP facing serious food shortage

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) in Zambia told IRIN on Thursday that it had a shortfall of 1,800 mt of food commodities, or 42 percent of the total food required to urgently cater for refugees in the country. The shortfall follows the recent influx of refugees from neighbouring Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "With resources to feed 56,000 somehow we've fed 80,000, but we'll run out of food by March," Jorge Fanlo, WFP Deputy Country Director in Zambia told IRIN. His comments followed a statement on Wednesday by Country Director Tachetse Zergaber that WFP's Zambia office had submitted a new emergency operation proposal of 6,302 mt to cater for the recent influx from Angola and DRC to last up to December this year at a total cost of US $2.9 million. According to Fanlo, WFP's current food shortage would worsen if more refugees from the DRC crossed into Zambia to escape new fighting. "Things are difficult now, but if the rebels in Katanga province decide to extend their offensive to Lubumbashi, we would have a real crisis on our hands," he said. He called for international donors to fund a contingency plan that would allow WFP to stockpile enough food to deal with new refugee influxes. "The country office will need approximately 1,500 mt of maize as a buffer stock in case there is a further influx of refugees most especially from the DRC," Zergaber said. The recent military offensives of the Congolese rebels in Katanga province and their capture of Pweto, Pepa and Malilo has resulted in some 15,000 refugees entering Zambia through Northern Kaputa and Mpulungu districts and Chienge in Northern Luapula during November and December. The number of refugees that entered Zambia from Angola and DRC since October 1999, receiving WFP food assistance, is about 18,000 and the figures have continued to rise. Zambia is currently hosting about 250,000 refugees mainly from Angola and the DRC. Some 1,000 ex-combatants from Angola along with their families have been resettled in Ukwimi camp in Zambia's Eastern province since last December. They may soon be joined by more than 100 Congolese troops who fled into Zambia after the fall of Pweto and are currently seeking refugee status through UNHCR.