Rampant banditry delaying food delivery to Darfur
March 10, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — The UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that rampant banditry is delaying vital food deliveries to Darfur, while a lack of contributions may ground its Humanitarian Air Service at the end of the month.
Since the beginning of this year, five WFP passenger vehicles and 45 WFP-contracted trucks have been hijacked. A total 37 trucks remain missing and 23 drivers are unaccounted for.
“This is an unprecedented situation. Our humanitarian air operation for aid workers could be forced to stop flying because we have no money, at a time when our helicopters and aircraft are needed more than ever because of high insecurity on the roads,” said Kenro Oshidari, WFP Representative in Sudan.
WFP is currently transporting about half as much food into Darfur as it
normally would at this time of year and the turnaround time for deliveries
has slowed because truckers are unwilling to risk driving on the dangerous roads.
WFP currently has about 60,000 metric tons of food in Darfur, equal to
about two months’ rations for the 2 million people who currently rely on
WFP food assistance. As the May to October rainy season approaches the number of people needing humanitarian assistance and their food
requirements will go up by as much as 50 percent. If WFP cannot maintain deliveries it will be forced to reduce rations in some areas.
“It’s vital that the main transport routes are secured. Our trucking
contractors are delivering food under immense risks and the situation is
unsustainable,” Oshidari said.
In the latest incident, seven trucks were stolen and the drivers abducted on 4 March on their way to El Fasher in North Darfur. The bandits unloaded the food and left it behind when they
drove off with the trucks.
On 23 January WFP announced that 22 contract trucks had been stolen and 18 drivers were missing in the first three weeks of the year. WFP warned ration cuts were likely in February because its two largest trucking contractors were refusing to continue service.
Since then, the trucking firms agreed to continue transporting food
and ration levels were maintained. However, the continuing high rate of
banditry — now more than double the incidents since the last announcement — means that WFP is unlikely to be able to maintain commodity stocks as the rainy season approaches.
Meanwhile, WFP’s Humanitarian Air Service (WFP-HAS) has received no
confirmed donations this year to its annual budget of US$77 million.
Without an immediate infusion of cash, the operation will not be able meet
its US$6.2 million monthly costs and will be forced to cease flights at the
end of this month until new funds can be found.
An average of 8,000 humanitarian workers per month use WFP-HAS in Darfur;
3,000 of them on helicopters to remote areas unreachable by road. The
majority of passengers on WFP-HAS are staff of non-governmental
organizations carrying out crucial health care, water and sanitation or
food relief work.
“The entire humanitarian community depends on WFP-HAS. With a recent
upsurge in insecurity in West Darfur and increased banditry on the roads
throughout the region, the air operation is more important than ever. If
it shut down, even for a brief period, vital relief would be denied to
vulnerable civilians in Darfur,” Oshidari said.
In 2007, the air service managed by WFP carried almost 160,000 passengers from 170 different agencies and non-governmental organizations in Sudan.
WFP-HAS also conducted 267 emergency medical and security evacuations and relocations. Its current fleet has 24 aircraft, including six helicopters in Darfur.
Despite the lack of donations in 2008, WFP-HAS has been able to stay in the air until now using US$11 million carried over from 2007. The air
operation’s funds are raised separately from WFP’s food relief budget in
Sudan, which stands at $697 million this year and plans to feed up to 5.6
million people throughout Sudan.
Each of WFP’s six helicopters in Darfur flies an average 80 hours per
month. It costs $4000 per hour to operate each helicopter in Darfur.
WFP Humanitarian Air Service Sudan started in 2004 to serve the humanitarian community. In addition to Darfur and other parts of northern Sudan, it serves southern Sudan, recovering from a 21-year war that ended in 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
(ST)