United States donation to World Food Programme arrives in southern Africa
The World Food Programme today (WFP) welcomed the arrival in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, of a ship carrying 33,000 metric tons of maize, beans and vegetable oil donated by the United States to help feed millions facing hunger in southern Africa.
The World Food Programme today (WFP) welcomed the arrival in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, of a ship carrying 33,000 metric tons of maize, beans and vegetable oil donated by the United States to help feed millions facing hunger in southern Africa.
The US chartered vessel "Liberty Glory" arrived over the weekend with 16,940 tons of food for Malawi and 8,500 tons for Zambia, which was quickly transferred onto trucks and rail wagons for delivery. It will arrive at Maputo on 1 June to deliver the remaining 9,890 tons of food to drought-stricken Mozambique.
This shipment, which is valued at $13.3 million, brings the total United States contribution for WFP operations in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho and Mozambique to 80,000 tons of food, worth $36.6 million. According to the UN agency, the US is finalizing several other large contributions to the region.
Other donors responding to the food crisis in southern Africa include the European Community-EuropeAid ($5.9 million), the United Kingdom ($5 million), Germany ($4.2 million), Japan ($3.1 million) and Australia ($1.1 million), as well as the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), Sweden, Canada, Finland, Switzerland, the Netherlands and South Africa.
The WFP is the United Nations front-line agency in the fight against global hunger. In 2001, it fed more than 77 million people in 82 countries, including most of the world's refugees and internally displaced persons.