Libya maintains low tariffs on fuel for UN to airlift food to Darfur, Sudan

Libya has discounted jet fuel for the United Nations World Food Programme's (WFP) airlifting of food for more than 3 million people in western Sudan's Darfur region, making it possible for the programme to be continued.

"We thank the Libyan people and its government for this generous gesture which will allow for the continuation of WFP's humanitarian airlift of food from El Kufra in Libya to Darfur," John Powell, WFP's Deputy Executive Director, said.

Jet fuel was set to rise from 13 to 33 cents per litre, costing the programme an additional $1.5 million a month to maintain the airlifts. Had Libya not maintained the old tariff, WFP said it would have been forced to suspend the airlift this month.

Airlifts are especially important during the rainy season, it added, when roads in Darfur become impassable at the same time that the need for food aid increases.

"The loss of this route would have made it more difficult for WFP to provide for up to 3.25 million people we plan to assist from August through to October," said Amir Abdulla, WFP's Regional Director for the Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, who is based in Cairo, Egypt.

On funding, meanwhile, WFP's special logistics operation to move food from Libya across the Sahara Desert to Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad has received just $248,000 of the $4.5 million needed until next February. WFP's food relief inside Darfur needs an additional $562 million, two-thirds of which has been donated.