Food assistance still needed in several areas of Cote d'Ivoire

Thousands of civilians living in western Cote d'Ivoire need food aid and their counterparts in the east and north, are facing difficulties accessing food due to economic hardships that have resulted from the political crisis in Cote d'Ivoire. In an emergency report on Friday, the World Food Programme (WFP) said villagers in western Cote d'Ivoire especially around Man, Danane and Mahapleu were facing the peak of a lean period and had appealed for food assistance. WFP said it had received a request from local authorities in the western town of Guiglo, for food aid to some 20,000 internally displaced persons living with host families. The agency would conduct an assessment of the situation this week, it said. It intends to provide targeted food assistance in rural Man, Danane, Zouan Hounien and Bin Houye until the next harvest. WFP said the humanitarian situation in areas held by the Ivorian rebels, called the "new forces", like the eastern town of Bouna had not improved. The economy, it added, was still constrained by closed banks and markets while public services such as water and electricity were non-functioning. Poor health services, WFP added, had also led to an increasing number of people suffering from malnutrition and poor health. In Bouna town, it added, 80 percent of the population collected water from polluted sources and about 15 percent of the patients in Bouna hospital suffered from water borne ailments. The agency conducted a mission in mid September to the villages of Kououba and Sanguinary - which have not received any humanitarian assistance since the beginning of the crisis on 19 September 2002. In the north, the situation continued to be very difficult for cotton farmers who had not been paid for the last two seasons. However a WFP mission to the area found that the Cooperative of Cotton Producers had given rice on credit, to be paid back without interest after the harvests. Although the general security and access had improved, crime was on the increase country-wide, the agency said. Security remained poor outside the main towns and away from the main roads in the western part of the country. Meanwhile, in Mauritania, WFP reported that rainy conditions had continued in parts of the south. The Senegal River breached the dike protecting the southern city of Kaedi, flooding the eastern parts of the town, including houses and crops. Parts of Gorgol and Guidimakha were completely cut off by flooding. Rain in Brakna and Hodh had caused significant operational difficulties for transportation from regional warehouses to non-governmental organization. Distribution had therefore been temporarily suspended.