WFP completes food distribution

The UN World Food Programme has completed the distribution of 986 mt of food to 67,800 refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) in Guinea, the agency’s regional office in Abidjan told IRIN on Thursday. The bulk of the food aid - which included oil, vegetables and cereals - went to the 25,000 IDPs living in Faranah, some 330 km east of Conakry. WFP also opened a new refugee camp in Nzerekore, 800 km southeast of Conakry, in a bid to ease pressure placed on other camps. UNHCR started transferring refugees to the new camp at Kola which can hold 6,000 inmates. Till now the refugees have been living in facilities close to the Liberian border. So far, 380 refugees have been relocated, WFP reported. The operation will continue until the camp is full. WFP has set up a new sub-office in Nzerekore to improve its operations in the area. A WFP official told IRIN the security situation in Guinea was calm, most likely because rebels in Sierra Leone, who were blamed for incursions into Guinea, were now disarming. Moreover, the official said, refugees and IDPs in Guinea had been moved away from the borders with Sierra Leone and Liberia, shielding them from possible rebel insurgency. As at Thursday, WFP was providing food to 80,000 refugees and 190,000 IDPs in Guinea, the agency said.