Government lifts restriction on WFP operations

The government has lifted the suspension of a special authorisation permitting the WFP to offload its commodities before undergoing customs and clearing procedures. The suspension, which had lasted two months, had seriously affected the agency’s operations, causing delivery and distribution delays and cancellations because its transport partners from Uganda and Tanzania had halted work during that period, WFP stated in its latest emergency report. In view of the problems with the food pipeline, WFP had cancelled distributions to regroupment sites in Bujumbura Rural province and to victims of the drought in the north, the report said. Security remained of major concern in different provinces throughout the country, it added.