WFP executive director to visit Libya border amidst growing concern about escalating humanitarian needs
ROME, Italy, 28 février 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, Josette Sheeran, will today travel to Tunisia for meetings with government officials to discuss humanitarian needs arising from the ongoing civil unrest in neighbouring Libya and the regional impact on the vulnerable, especially women and children
More than 40,000 people have crossed the Libyan border into Tunisia in the past week, and many of the arrivals say they have had limited access to food during the journey from their homes and workplaces in Libya. Sheeran will visit the border between Tunisia and Libya on Tuesday 1 March where she will meet people who have fled the disturbances in Libya. She will also meet aid official and local authorities, to assess the food needs of those arriving from across the border.
A WFP airlift of 80 metric tons of High Energy Biscuits from a United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot in Brindisi, Italy, is due to arrive in Tunisia on Monday (28 February). The biscuits will be included in the food rations being distributed in border areas by local groups and relief agencies.
Journalists and media organisations that wish to accompany WFP’s Executive Director on her visit to the Libya border area should contact WFP’s Regional Public Information Officer, Abeer Etefa on +216 5599 3597 (Tunisia) or +20 016663 4352 (Egypt).
Video footage of the airlift of WFP high energy biscuits will be available. Please contact Marco Frattini (marco.frattini@wfp.org) for further information.
SOURCE
World Food Program (WFP)
