UN agency says funds urgently needed for relief flights to Angola

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today that it urgently needed $2.5 million to continue its passenger and non-food cargo flights in Angola.

Failing new donations, it could be forced to suspend the flights, which service more than 200 international humanitarian agencies, as early as November, WFP said in a press released issued in the Angolan capital Luanda.

The agency blamed the problem on “poor funding,” which has forced it to accept only limited and critical non-food transportation requests from other humanitarian agencies. The food delivery system is separate.

WFP said that for years, it has been transporting aid workers to remote areas of Angola, as well as delivering non-food cargo. “Dedicated passenger aircraft provide humanitarian agencies with safe and affordable passenger transport, while cargo flights regularly deliver non-food items such as vaccines, agricultural tools, seeds, medicine and blankets to various parts of the country,” it said.

On average, 2,000 aid workers and 500 tons of non-food items are transported each month by WFP in Angola, the agency said.

“As the harvest season approaches, Angolans need agricultural tools so they can produce their own food,” WFP said.