The first major airlifts of emergency food aid to Niger are scheduled to begin on Thursday, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Wednesday as part of an international bid to save an estimated 2,5-million people from starvation.
An Ilyushin-76 aircraft will take off from the WFP’s humanitarian response depot in Brindisi, Italy, early on Thursday with 44 tonnes of high-energy biscuits for Niger’s capital, Niamey, the Rome-based organisation said.
The aircraft will make two further round trips in the following days, carrying emergency rations as well as vital equipment including mobile warehouses, generators and 4×4 vehicles.
The Rome-based UN emergency response agency says 3,6-million people are directly affected by food shortages, with 2,5-million of those ”in urgent need of food aid”. The WFP itself is hoping to reach half that number with airlifted food aid, the agency’s Chris Endean said.
Staff at WFP headquarters on Wednesday estimated they have five weeks to deliver 23 000 tonnes of food aid to the worst-affected areas before the rains set in, making distribution by road all but impossible.
”Whether it’s by air, land or sea, the food cannot arrive a moment too soon. We are working flat out to deliver rations and help provide relief for some of the worst hunger I have ever witnessed,” said WFP Niger country director Giancarlo Cirri.
The first Brindisi flight is due to arrive in Niamey on Thursday afternoon. A convoy of trucks will rush the consignment of high-energy biscuits across 660km of desert to the southern region of Maradi, one of the worst-hit areas.
An earlier convoy left the port of Lomé in Togo this week on an 800km journey with 996 tonnes of rice and 550 tonnes of pulses for Niger’s starving.
”We’re talking about huge distances, but the transport network is relatively good. The real problem has not been getting the food to the hungry but getting the donations to pay for the food,” said Pierre Carasse, the WFP’s chief logistics officer.
The UN emergency body said the international community had until recently failed to heed warnings that prolonged drought and locust infestation had destroyed crops and livestock across Niger.
It said it had first alerted donors to the developing emergency last November. — Sapa-AFP