World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

WFP took part end of November in a United Nations interagency mission to assess humanitarian needs in southwestern Libya where clashes ended three weeks before. The convoy headed 755 km south along the main Tripoli-Sabha highway; a journey that takes about 10 hours to southern cities and towns nestled in the vast Sahara desert.

On behalf of the logistics cluster in Libya, WFP’s Glyn Saunders conducts an airport assessment for the United Nations and provides important details needed to upgrade the Libya Logistics Capacity Assessment.

WFP Programme Officer Ahmed Ben-Mussa  hears from a representative from Ghat, a border district five hours further south, about the lack of food in his area, where money has not been available in the banks for several weeks and there are shortages of fuel, sporadic phone service, disruption of food public distribution systems, and only recently electricity and water have been restored after six months without any.

In Oubari, an ancient Sahara trade route city a two-hour drive from Sabha, United Nations team visits poor neighborhoods housing Libyans who have been displaced from their home cities during the conflict, like these boys.

The female staff members have access to women and children inside the homes of the displaced families. Arabic-speaking OCHA Field Officer Rebecca Tustin learns about a family’s needs through informal discussions.

Some families are anxious to tell their stories and show their homes.

Displaced men come to the local council to speak to the United Nations team to be sure their specific situations and concerns are heard.

United Nations staff members, like everyone, like to take away memories of their trips.