News releases

ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) strongly condemns the looting of one of the agency’s logistics hubs in south-central Sudan. The attack on WFP’s warehouses in El Obeid puts food assistance for 4.4 million conflict-affected people at risk.

ANTANANARIVO – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is warning that it will discontinue its helicopter service in south-eastern Madagascar - unless US$1 million is urgently received.

HODEIDA, Yemen – A UN World Food Programme-chartered vessel berthed today in Al Salif port in Hodeidah, carrying 30,000 metric tons of wheat grain to support humanitarian assistance in Yemen.

GOMA – The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) has introduced a new fleet of orange-painted helicopters as part of efforts to improve safety of operations in the restive eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) - where millions need life-saving humanitarian support.

KABUL / TERMEZ – The Special Envoy of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Afghanistan, Ismatulla Irgashev, visited the United Nations World Food Programme’s (WFP) Logistics Hub in Termez, Uzbekistan to flag off construction of new warehouse facilities in the complex.

ANKARA/DAMASCUS – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered urgently needed food assistance to 115,000 people in Syria and Türkiye in the first four days since deadly earthquakes struck the region, killing thousands and forcing tens of thousands into the freezing outside temperatures. Distributions are ongoing.

ADDIS ABABA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered over 2,400 metric tons of food, medical, nutrition and other lifesaving supplies to Ethiopia’s Tigray region following the signing of a peace agreement earlier this month and the reopening of all four road corridors. However, deliveries of assistance within Tigray are not matching the needs and WFP and its cooperating partners urgently need access to all parts of the region to deliver food and nutrition assistance to 2.3 million vulnerable people.

ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees have set up an independent service – UN FLEET - to help their sister UN organizations lease the vehicles they need for operations all around the world.

COLOMBO – The first consignment from an Australian donation totaling AUD22 million (approximately USD15 million) has arrived in Sri Lanka and will soon be distributed to those most affected by the ongoing economic crisis. The consignment, consisting of 600 metric tonnes of rice, forms part of a larger consignment of rice, pulses and cooking oil, due to arrive in the country soon.

KYIV – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners have over the last few days distributed more than 70,000 food rations in Kharkiv oblast, 30,000 rations in Kherson oblast, and 500 rations in Luhansk oblast, reaching communities who have only just become accessible to humanitarian agencies.

JUBA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is today calling for the safe and secure passage of food and other humanitarian assistance into conflict-affected areas of Upper Nile and Jonglei states, amidst renewed conflict which has displaced thousands of families and left an unknown number of civilians dead or injured.

CHISINAU – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and its cooperating partners have delivered 1 million hot meals since 15 March to Ukrainian refugees living in WFP-supported Refugee Accommodation Centres (RACs) in Moldova.

SANA’A / ROME – A UN World Food Programme-charted vessel departed today from the Ukrainian Black Sea Port of Yuznhy (Pivdennyi) with wheat grain destined for the agency’s humanitarian response in Yemen.

ISLAMABAD – With a record 33 million people affected by this year’s heavy monsoon rains and flooding in Pakistan, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is stepping up its support to the Government’s relief efforts. The floods are the deadliest in over a decade and more heavy rains are forecast.

YUZHNY / ROME – The first maritime shipment of Ukrainian wheat grain for humanitarian operations run by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) left Ukraine’s Yuzhny (Pivdennyi) Port today, another important milestone in efforts to get much needed Ukrainian grain out of the conflict-hit country, back into global markets, and to countries worst affected by the global food crisis.

BRIDGETOWN – Strengthening emergency preparedness and response capacities of the Caribbean islands, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), through a partnership with the Government of Barbados and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) will build a logistics hub and training centre in Barbados.

PORT-AU-PRINCE – In Haiti, where almost half the population is already food insecure, hunger is set to rise amidst increasing inflation, high costs of food and fuel and deteriorating security, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). As criminal groups block roads, WFP continues to provide assistance to vulnerable Haitians and supports the humanitarian community with vital air and sea transport.

SUVA/TARAWA 8 July 2022 – A flight carrying life-saving emergency supplies touched down in Kiribati yesterday, strengthening the critical on-going response to the devastating drought in the country. The Pacific Humanitarian Air Service (PHAS), operated by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), transported the supplies on behalf of UNICEF.

KABUL – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has rapidly deployed food and logistics equipment to support communities devasted by the 22 June earthquake that struck near the city of Khost. 18 trucks are being deployed to the earthquake-affected areas carrying emergency supplies, including High Energy Biscuits (HEB) and mobile storage units. WFP plans to provide emergency food to an initial 3,000 households and is ready to ramp up its support pending results of ongoing post-disaster assessments.

DAKAR – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today warned that its UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) – that provides crucial transport links for humanitarian responders to the world’s most remote and challenging locations - will be forced to ground its planes in Guinea and Niger by August 2022 if additional funding of US$ 6.4 million is not urgently provided. This situation risks cutting off crisis-affected communities from life-saving aid at a time of unprecedented humanitarian needs.

ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme is today calling for the re-opening of the ports in the Odesa area of southern Ukraine so that food being produced in the war-torn country can flow freely to the rest of the world, before the current global hunger crisis spins out of control.

LVIV – One month into the conflict in Ukraine, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is providing emergency food assistance to one million people in the country and has built systems able to deliver food at scale to communities in need. Trucks, trains and mini vans are today delivering food supplies to the most vulnerable people across the country and more convoys are expected in coming days.

Juba – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) strongly condemns the recent attack on a convoy carrying humanitarian supplies and again calls on the Government to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice and to safeguard the safety and security of humanitarian staff and assets.

Khartoum – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has partially resumed operations in North Darfur after more than a month’s suspension following a series of attacks and looting of all three of its warehouses in El Fasher late December 2021.

ANTANANARIVO – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), along with the Government of Madagascar is providing food, logistics, IT assistance and an airlink to support relief operations in the districts of Mananjary and Manakara badly affected by Cyclone Batsirai that made landfall on 5 February.