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afrol News, 14 November - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement today it would "face a break in its humanitarian operations to help feed hundreds of thousands of destitute and vulnerable people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, unless more contributions are received immediately." - In a region where civil conflict knows no bounds and cris-crosses the borders of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, WFP food is helping almost one million people including refugees displaced by war, people returning to their homes and malnourished children to survive, Manuel da Silva, WFP Regional Director for West Africa, said today in Dakar. - For emergency operations in 2002, WFP requires 100,000 tonnes of food, he said. "Given lengthy procurement processes, donors need to pledge their contributions urgently to cover the amount of food aid required for the region." WFP has emergency and development operations in 12 West African countries. The largest emergency operation is in the three war-torn Mano River countries: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The estimated one million beneficiaries depend on WFP food rations for their survival and any interruption in supplies will have an almost immediate impact. - The situation in the region is still very fragile, da Silva said. "Fighting in Liberia has caused important internal displacement, as well as cross-border movement of refugees into Cote d’Ivoire. Many of displaced Liberians are on a razor's edge and had they not received emergency rations would have been close to death." In Sierra Leone, the poorest country in the world, peace and disarmament is slowly making a comeback. Food aid combined with seeds and tools provided by other humanitarian agencies, is a major support to the peace process helping an extremely vulnerable population to resume their normal agricultural activities. - Without food, there can be no sustainable peace, no democracy and no development, stressed da Silva. "Without timely help, countries such as Sierra Leone may soon fall back into the cycle of violence and despair." WFP, the largest food aid agency in the world, is in the last stages of decentralising from Rome its Regional Bureaus, which include Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. In Africa, WFP has three Regional Bureaus, including that in Dakar, Uganda for Eastern and Southern Africa and Cameroon for Central Africa. The new Bureau in Dakar started its operations today from a new facility offered by the Senegalese government. - This Bureau will enable us to put WFP’s strategic resources, such as key personnel and decision-making powers, closer to the millions of people who need our help, da Silva said. "We are bringing an important part of our headquarters in Rome to Dakar because we are committed to working toward a better future in Africa." The Regional Bureau for West Africa covers Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Sierra Leone. In this vast geographical area, WFP’s food is targeted at 4.8 million people. In addition to emergency work, the West Africa Bureau will drive such development activities as school feeding programmes and new initiatives to help combat HIV/AIDS. Sources: Based on WFP
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