WFP in need of $20 million to assist 60,000 people in Jonglei

July 23, 2013 (GENEVA) – The World Food Programme (WFP) has launched a campaign to raise $20 million to assist 60,000 people affected by violence in Jonglei state’s Pibor county.

In a statement released on Monday, WFP said that while it was already providing assistance to those displaced by violence in Pibor, the surge in numbers as a result of renewed violence in the area meant that it now requires additional funding to cover increased food and logistical costs.

“While WFP was already providing food assistance to some of the displaced in areas it can reach, the agency urgently needs additional funds to buy more food and to hire the three additional helicopters required to transport the much-needed supplies to the civilians trapped by the ongoing violence”, the agency said.

WFP also announced that it had provided food to 4,700 people in areas of Pibor which had previously been unreachable by humanitarian organisations.

“In areas of Pibor county where the humanitarian community had gained access, WFP was providing food assistance through distributions this week in Dorein, Labdab and Pibor town. The agency had also provided assistance to more than 4,700 people, most of them women and children, who came from villages and the bush to receive assistance in Pibor town in early July”, WFP said in the statement.

Fighting between state and non-state actors, as well as inter-communal violence between the rival Lou Nuer and Murle communities has led to the displacement of thousands of people.

The WFP says insecurity, as well as recent heavy rains had made many roads impassable, thus making it more difficult to reach those in need of assistance.

(ST)