Without immediate donations, food aid in Liberia might be cut, UN agency warns

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that even as peace makes an "uneasy comeback" in Liberia, without immediate donations the agency may be forced to cut back on food aid to hundreds of thousands of people.

WFP, the world's largest humanitarian agency, said it has received less than half the funding needed - just $32.4 million of the requested $77.7 million - for its West Africa programme that covers Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Unless further donations are made immediately, WFP said it will be compelled to start cutting food rations to beneficiaries in Liberia as early as July, possibly undermining the country's delicate transition towards stability.

The agency is currently providing emergency food rations to 490,000 people in Liberia, including daily meals for 258,000 primary school students. With adequate funding, WFP plans to extend school feeding in the coming months to reach 350,000 students across the country. With more than 60,000 child soldiers in Liberia needing help to turn their lives around, a single WFP school meal can keep a child in the classroom. WFP also provides food rations to displaced populations and newly returned refugees.

"After years of fighting and destruction, Liberians must be able to reclaim their homes and livelihoods for stability to take hold, but progress is severely hampered if people lack basics - such as food," said Manuel da Silva, WFP Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

Liberia's war killed more than 200,000 people, displaced at least half a million and gutted the country's infrastructure. According to WFP, roughly one million Liberians remain undernourished and go without adequate food on a daily basis. Most people in the country still cannot grow food or earn money to buy it.

"Ordinary people are doing their best to help themselves and aid workers are doing their best to assist. Liberia's fragile peace can only succeed with the backing of firm international commitment," said Mr. da Silva.

In other news, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has started a verification exercise to register Liberian returnees from Sierra Leone. The programme is underway in two returnee camps located near the capital Monrovia, home to over 7,000 returnees from Sierra Leone.

The agency said so far, 4,500 have been registered. It expects to expand the exercise to the east and the north of the country to include returnees from Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea once security has improved and UNHCR has established presence there.