The World Food Programme (WFP) has urged all parties to the present crisis to work together to see that critical food aid programmes and other humanitarian operations can resume, and to work to avert a larger food security crisis.
A press statement issued by the WFP said, “With road travel severely curtailed, schools shut and major cities under curfew for the last three weeks, the United Nations World Food Programme in Nepal has not been able to deliver critically needed food aid to communities around the country, including to over half a million school children.”
The statement further said that while more than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees living in eastern Nepal have been receiving supplies after WFP appealed to all parties to allow safe passage to food convoys traveling to the region, most operations in other parts of Nepal have come to a standstill in the last few weeks.
“Before this political crisis, WFP was providing food to over one million persons living in severely food insecure areas of the country,” the statement adds.
As well as providing food to children in schools, WFP runs food-for-work programmes that provide rations to 300,000 people, allowing communities where food is scarce to build roads to access markets and nearby towns. Another 17,000 mothers and young children are provided with food as part of nutrition and health programmes, the statement said, adding, “All these programmes have been under threat with the closure of roads and other transport networks.”
Working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), WFP also provides food to 105,000 Bhutanese refugees living in camps in eastern Nepal who are totally dependent on external assistance to meet their basic needs.
“The crisis has put vulnerable communities in danger,” the statement quoted Anthony Banbury, WFP Regional Director for Asia as saying.
“Children have not been fed in schools, mothers and pregnant women have not received nutritional support and communities have not received food to support their poorest members. We hope that Monday’s political developments will allow us to quickly resume food deliveries and distributions,” she added. nepalnews.com pb Apr 26 06