'Six million Burmese need food'

The United Nations has warned of acute food shortages in parts of Burma, despite a better than expected rice harvest over the past year. Its World Food Programme has issued a report warning that six million people in Burma are now in need of food aid. They include a million in the Irrawaddy Delta, hit by Cyclone Nargis last year. But the WFP says it cannot get enough food aid to the western Rohingya and Chin areas, because of restrictions imposed by the military government. The United Nations has warned of acute food shortages in parts of Burma, despite a better than expected rice harvest over the past year. Its World Food Programme has issued a report warning that six million people in Burma are now in need of food aid. They include a million in the Irrawaddy Delta, hit by Cyclone Nargis last year. But the WFP says it cannot get enough food aid to the western Rohingya and Chin areas, because of restrictions imposed by the military government.

Japan allots aid for people displaced by fighting in RP: UN agency

Japan has extended an 860 million-yen (9.6 million-dollar) grant to help feed tens of thousands of people displaced by a Muslim separatist conflict in the southern Philippines, a UN aid agency said Wednesday. The Japan International Cooperation Agency and the World Food Programme (WFP) signed the grant agreement at the UN agency's Rome headquarters on Friday, the programme's Philippine office said in a statement. [...] The WFP and other groups say at least 100,000 civilians had been unable to return to their homes and farms in Mindanao, the homeland of a large Islamic minority, and needed long-term food rations.

Somalia: WFP Delegation Visits Islamist Rulers in Hiran Region

A delegation from the UN's World Food Program visited a provincial capital in central Somalia for the first time Wednesday since Islamists returned to power, Radio Garowe reports. The four-member delegation was led by Ms. Denise Brown, the WFP deputy country director for Somalia. [...] Sources close to the discussions told Radio Garowe that the WFP officers expressed concern about targeted killings and the safety of aid workers, while noting that humanitarian efforts will continue in the region.

UN rushing aid to trapped civilians in Sri Lanka's Northern war zone

The UN and international aid agencies, that are rushing assistance to over 250,000 civilians trapped in war-ridden northern Sri Lanka, have asked all sides in the conflict to ensure that people are treated according to international humanitarian law. The recent surge in fighting between the government forces and the LTTE has prompted warnings from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other UN officials about the humanitarian impact of the conflict on the people of Sri Lanka. [...] Since early October, some 519 trucks have transported over 8,000 tons of food from the UN World Food Programme (WFP), as well as water and sanitation materials, school supplies, clothing and household goods supplied by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UNHCR.