WFP completes food hand out to 40,000 IDPs

The World Food Programme has finished delivering emergency rations to 40,000 Liberians fleeing fighting between government troops and dissidents in Lofa County, the WFP regional office in Abidjan reported on Thursday. It said 30,000 of the displaced were in Bong County and 10,000 in Grand Cape Mount County. WFP regional spokesman Ramin Rafirasme told IRIN that about 70 percent of them were women and children, living in the open air and in abandoned buildings. Some, he said, had been weakened by days of walking to safety. Yet, he added, there were no severe signs of malnutrition so far. However, he added, there was a lack of plastic sheeting and other non-food aid and if the IDPs remain unsheltered with the onset of the rains the situation could worsen. WFP is aiding at least 280,000 people in Liberia, 140,000 of whom are children enrolled in school feeding programmes.