UN Humanitarian Flights To Somalia Resume - WFP Operations Continue

The United Nations Common Air Services (UNCAS) which is managed by
the World Food Programme, resumed humanitarian flights into Somalia on
Friday 29 December with a plane leaving Nairobi for Hargeisa in northern
Somalia carrying humanitarian workers and cargo. WFP had temporarily
suspended all flights on 27 December.


-- UNCAS plans another flight on Saturday (30 December) of an aircraft
from Nairobi to the southern Somali town of Wajid. These flights follow the
Transitional Federal Government giving permission for humanitarian flights
to resume after declaring Somalia's land, air and sea borders closed on 25
December.


-- Despite the fast-changing security situation in Somalia in the past
week, WFP distributed an estimated 2,000 metric tons of food to 93,000
people affected by floods in Lower Shabelle and Middle and Lower Juba
regions of southern Somalia, largely thanks to improved access by land.


-- A WFP-chartered ship loaded with 4,500 metric tons of WFP food docked
in Mogadishu port on 26 December and started discharging the same day.
While the Somali administration of the port changed, dock workers have
continued to unload the vessel and by Friday had unloaded 2,226 tons of
food aid.


Background


On 27 December, WFP announced the suspension of its helicopter operation
delivering humanitarian aid from the Somali port of Kismayo and both its
air drop operation and passenger flights from Kenya into Somalia.


On 26 December, WFP temporarily relocated two Mi-8 helicopters and 25
humanitarian workers from Kismayo to Nairobi. They included 9 WFP staff (1
national and 8 international), 14 crew members and 2 UN security officers
involved in air operations from Kismayo.


On 24 & 25 December, WFP carried out airdrops into Somalia, dropping a
total of 28 metric tons of food.


WFP hopes to resume all its air operations using airdrops and helicopters
in Somalia as soon as possible and is in contact with authorities on the
ground in an attempt to achieve this.


WFP still has more than 100 national staff in Somalia operating from 15
offices across the country; they are continuing to distribute food to
victims of the floods, the preceding drought and the most vulnerable in
other areas.


WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency: each year, we give food to
an average of 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs,
including 58 million hungry children, in at least 80 of the world's poorest
countries. WFP -- We Feed People.


WFP Global School Feeding Campaign - For just 19 US cents a day, you can
help WFP give children in poor countries a healthy meal at school ? a gift
of hope for a brighter future.Visit our website: wfp