World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

The crisis in Libya has produced tidal waves of refugees. (..) The task of feeding the tens of thousands has fallen to Libyan kind hearts, to local charities including the Libyan Red Crescent supported by external organizations and governments, such as the Turkish Red Crescent, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Qatar, and to the UN’s World Food Program (WFP).

The prime minister's official spokesman has denied there are any British combat troops on the ground in Libya. (..) A ship from the United Nations World Food Programme is docking in Misrata on Wednesday, delivering 420 tons of food- enough to feed 25,000 people for a month.

Libya will suffer a serious food shortage unless the international community intervenes, a senior United Nations official said yesterday. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) in Dubai said food stocks could run out within 45 days if supplies were not replenished and funding was not increased to UN agencies that provide food.

Shoppers struggle under bags of food and boxes of water bottles in Benghazi's main market. Sellers of mobile SIM cards connecting worried families are thriving. Cars vie for parking in the busy streets nearby.(..) Fears of a looming food shortage in eastern Libya have grown. The World Food Programme warned last month that food stocks were not being replenished at normal rates.

Soon after the Libyan crisis broke, decision-makers and humanitarian workers faced a critical challenge: lack of information about events inside the country. (..) The platform has been hailed as a useful tool, with Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme, describing it in a Tweet as "excellent".

Reports that Libyan rebels have captured the airport in the western city of Misrata could herald a new lifeline for the beleaguered population, but using the airfield could prove hazardous, aid agencies said on Thursday. (..) The World Food Programme (WFP), a United Nations agency, also gave a cautious welcome to reports on the airport being in rebel hands. It could not confirm any rebel victory there. "It would provide an additional route for humanitarian supplies but our preference would still be to use the port as ships can carry more material than aircraft which are also more costly," WFP spokeswoman Emilia Casella told Reuters.

NATO airstrikes struck Moammar Gadhafi's sprawling compound in Tripoli and three other sites early Thursday, hours after the Libyan leader was shown on state TV in his first appearance since his son was killed nearly two weeks ago. (..) A potential humanitarian crisis was reported Thursday by the World Food Program in the mountain region of western Libya. Josette Sheeran, the WFP executive director, said fighting in the area between rebels and regime forces has prevented aid from reaching civilians trapped in some hard-to-reach villages.

The United Nations said on Thursday Libyans in the Western Mountains and the besieged city of Misrata risked food shortages unless humanitarian aid could get through. "I am increasingly concerned about the humanitarian situation and access to food for people trapped by the violence in this area," said Josette Sheeran, head of the Rome-based U.N. World Food Programme (WFP).

The UN has warned of serious food shortages in Libya unless aid agencies are given better access to the country. “In six to eight weeks there could be a general food crisis across the population,” Josette Sheeran, the executive director of the World Food Programme, told European Voice on Thursday (5 May).

The United States continues to provide much needed aid to the Libyan people and to those affected by the conflict in Libya. (..) With regard to food aid, a large U.S. shipment to the World Food Program consisting of 560 metric tons of vegetable oil and 270 metric tons of pinto beans arrived in Alexandria, Egypt, with more to follow, part of an effort to reach up to 600,000 beneficiaries.