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afrol News, 22 May - The slow pace of donations is holding up the international emergency operations in Mauritania following the drought and torrential rain in the country earlier this year. An estimated 250,000 victims of the natural disaster are still waiting for aid. The World Food Programme - which coordinates the emergency food operations in Mauritania together with the Mauritanian Food Security Commission - appealed for US$ 7.5 million from its donors more than a month ago. To date, only two countries have responded to the appeal - US$ 200,000 from Finland & US$ 91,000 from Italy. The Agency's Country Director Philippe Guyon-Le Bouffy says the operation cannot start until WFP has received sufficient contributions to purchase rice, salt and cooking oil. WFP will use this week's Executive Board meeting in Rome - the biannual gathering of the Agency's governing body - to urge the international community to give more. The Mauritania operation, which aims to provide 16,000 metric tonnes over nine months, was originally scheduled to begin in April in response to an unprecedented food crisis. Seasonal droughts and the poor distribution of rainfall in the 2001/2002 growing season, combined with exceptionally strong rain from 9-11 January, have provoked severe food shortages in the West African country. The rain, mainly in the regions of Trarza, Brakna, Gorgol and Tagrant, rotted over 6,000 tonnes of rice and damaged grazing land, crops and livestock. An estimated 5,941 homes, schools and other buildings were destroyed and 20 people were killed. In an initial response to the crisis, WFP's Country Office launched an emergency operation to distribute 459 tonnes of cereals in the first three months of 2002. The new operation will focus on two groups of vulnerable people, mainly located in the south of Mauritania.
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