UN humanitarian air service in West Africa wins reprieve for another month

United Nations aid operations in West Africa have received a boost with the injection of fresh funds to allow humanitarian flights in the region to continue, but similar air services in Chad will have to be cut within three weeks unless donors come forward with more assistance.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported today that its Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) operations for Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, which had been slated to close on Monday, will now be able to continue through September after the European Union contributed €100,000.

The service flies aid workers from the UN and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as journalists and others, to some of the hardest to reach emergency operations around the world, allowing the workers to reach those most in need of assistance.

The service currently operates in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan.

But the service for Chad will be cut in half from 15 September unless more funding is found, WFP spokesperson Emilia Casella told journalists today in Geneva. She warned that the service to that country could soon close entirely if new funds – estimated at around $5.7 million – are not received.