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Libya: WFP Returns To Misrata With Food And Relief
The view from the deck of the ship which ferried life-saving food aid from Egypt to the embattled Libyan port of Misrata. Copyright: WFP/Jonathan Dumont
For the second time this month, a WFP-chartered ship has brought emergency food relief to the embattled port of Misrata. In addition to food for 23,000 people, the vessel also brought three ambulances, medical supplies and drinking water.
CAIRO—The ship, which docked on Saturday, 23 April, was carrying some 350 metric tons of wheat flour, over 150 metric tons of mixed foods like pasta, rice and potatoes, and 84 metric tons of bottled water.
It was also transporting three ambulances and 12 metric tons of medical supplies on behalf of UNICEF and other international aid organisations.
Opening new routes
WFP last week opened a new aid pipeline to west Libya with a convoy of nine trucks carrying food for 50,000 people. Read more
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Fleeing Libyans Tell Tales Of Hunger
A family escaping their home in Tripoli say that food is growing scarce as the violence across Libya wears on. Watch videos
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Building the aid pipeline
WFP is putting its logistics expertise at the service of the relief effort . Learn more
This marks the second time in a month that a ship carrying WFP food aid has successfully docked in Misrata, which was under siege up until last weekend. The prior shipment on 7 April delivered enough food to feed 40,000 people trapped by heavy fighting.
Local partners on the ground such as the Libyan Red Crescent are distributing the food mainly to hospitals and to vulnerable sections of the population like women and children.
Other routes
Apart from these two sea deliveries, WFP is also shipping food in overland. A new supply route to Western Libya opened last week with the arrival of nine trucks loaded with food for 50,000 people living in areas which had been cut off from humanitarian support since the fighting began.
In eastern Libya, WFP has now reached more than 200,000 people, primarily families forced from their homes as well as foreign migrants.
Additional food stocks have been prepositioned throughout the region has part of a three-month operation to provide food assistance to more than one million people.
Deep concerns
WFP is concerned about people’s access to food inside Libya, especially those stranded in areas affected by the fighting.
WFP is also worried about the country’s future food security as food stocks in the country are being eaten and not replenished. The longer the conflict lasts, the more likely that the number of those in need of food assistance will increase.
A recent inter-agency mission found that food stocks in the eastern parts are enough for up to two months only.
Libya is a net food importing country and if the import capacity is not restored quickly, this could lead to a massive food availability problem for the entire population of eastern Libya.
