- The UN today voiced "extreme concern" at the upsurge in fighting over past weeks in parts of Burundi. The new fighting was cutting off thousands of newly displaced people from emergency food aid distribution, the UN food agency said.
- Even a one-week delay for people who have no food and no way of getting food is a week too long, the World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director in the central African country, Zlatan Milisic, said in a statement released today.
The upsurge in fighting came at the worst possible moment for many displaced people. "In many cases, when people flee the fighting they must leave their homes without taking any food with them," WFP said. "In their absence, their belongings - including clothes, kitchen utensils, and food stocks - are often plundered."
- WFP is extremely concerned about the nutritional status of displaced Burundians, as well as the limited ability of the already poor and struggling communities hosting them to cope, Mr Milisic explained.
He pledged that when security conditions permit, "food will be quickly distributed to the displaced people." Access was however urgent, according to Mr Milisic. The last time WFP had access to these people was in mid-February. Since then further reports have emerged of residents fleeing rural communes after more clashes between the Bujumbura government and the rebel Forces Nationales de Liberation (FNL).
WFP said continued insecurity had forced now it to cancel last week's planned emergency food aid distributions to 13,000 people who had recently fled their homes in Muhuta Commune. During the last month, several reports had emerged of residents fleeing other rural communes in the wake of more clashes between the government and rebels.
Despite improved overall security in most of Burundi, there are regular reports of displacements in western areas, especially Bujumbura Rural Province, where several thousand people have been forced to flee over recent weeks, according to WFP, which reported that targeted killings, rape of women, armed robbery and looting of households are continuing.
In many cases, when people flee the fighting they must leave their homes without taking any food with them. In their absence, their belongings, including clothes, kitchen utensils, and food stocks, are often plundered.
Since January, WFP has delivered about 1,150 tons of food aid in Bujumbura Rural province benefiting some 113,400 vulnerable people.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
front page
| news
| countries
| archive
| currencies
| news alerts login
| about afrol News
| contact
| advertise
| español