World Food Programme - The African Mirror

Apr

2021

Conflict and COVID-19 drive hunger to record levels in Congo

A record 27.3 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or about one-third of its population, are suffering from acute hunger, largely because of conflict and the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations said yesterday. The figure makes Congo home to the most people needing urgent food assistance in the world, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a joint statement. Besides conflict and the pandemic, the number also rose because the latest analysis covered more people than previous ones. "For the first time ever we were able…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

WFP to procure 200,000 tonnes of wheat for Sudan in 2021

NEWS

THE World Food Programme will procure 200,000 tonnes of wheat for Sudan in 2021, in the second year of a programme that allows the country to help prevent shortages while preserving precious foreign currency reserves, a WFP official told Reuters. The system agreed with the WFP last year allows Sudan to reimburse the organization for the wheat in local currency, and aims to help reduce the impact of frequent shortages of wheat, which have become common as Sudan suffers a protracted economic crisis. "We did that last year, just about 200,000 tonnes, and they've asked us to do the same…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Violence is endemic in eastern Congo: what drives it

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ON February 23, the Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Luca Attanasio, his bodyguard Vittorio Iacovacci and their driver Mustapha Milambo were killed in eastern Congo. They were part of a convoy that travelled from the World Food Programme’s compound in Goma, eastern Congo. PEER SCHOUTEN, Postdoctoral fellow, Danish Institute for International Studies The convoy took a road that forms the eastern border of the Virunga Park – a national park famous for its wild mountain gorillas. The cars were stopped at gunpoint at a place called 3 Antennas near Kibumba, and Milambo was shot; the other…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Thousands of Central Africans seek refuge in Cameroon

NEWS

Sitting at the bar of a hotel in Garoua-Boulaï, a small town in eastern Cameroon on the border with the Central African Republic, a middle-aged man makes a series of phone calls. Just a few weeks ago, he was a candidate in legislative elections in the Central African town of Bouar. Insurgent incursions and violence put an end to his campaign. Together with many other inhabitants of the town, including farmers, merchants and civil servants, he had to flee in the direction of Cameroon. "Now I'm stuck. The road is blocked," explains the man*, who is now looking for a…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

U.N. warns 2021 shaping up to be a humanitarian catastrophe

NEWS

MICHELLE NICHOLS NEXT year is shaping up to be a humanitarian catastrophe and rich countries must not trample poor countries in a "stampede for vaccines" to combat the coronavirus pandemic, top U.N. officials have told the 193-member U.N. General Assembly. World Food Programme (WFP) chief David Beasley and World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke during a special meeting on COVID-19, which emerged in China late last year and has so far infected 65 million globally. The pandemic, measures taken by countries to try to stop its spread and the economic impact have fueled a 40% increase in…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Humanitarian e-commerce’ thrives in Somalia amid pandemic

BUSINESS

ABDI SHEIKH MUSLIMA Abdirahman, a Somali mother of nine, escaped death twice in the past two years while shopping for groceries in Mogadishu, where Islamist insurgents regularly carry out suicide bombings on busy streets and markets. She shudders at the memories: "I wiped my tears with my veil and went home on foot without buying anything." But earlier this year Abdirahman traded her dangerous errands for online shopping, thanks to the World Food Programme's "humanitarian e-commerce" system in Somalia -- part of its global shift from distributing food to handing out cash. Conceived as a way to protect women in…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

UN food agency WFP hails Peace Nobel as call to action against hunger

WORLD

NERIJUS ADOMAITIS and STEPHANIE NEBEHAY THE United Nations' World Food Programme, which has coordinated medical logistics during the coronavirus pandemic, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in what its boss said was a call to action that no one should go hungry with the wealth in the world today. The head of the awards committee called the WFP a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict, and said the COVID-19 pandemic, which the WFP says could double hunger worldwide, had made it even more relevant. At one point at…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

U.N. food agency WFP wins 2020 Nobel Peace Prize

WORLD

TERJE SOLSVIK and NERIJUS ADOMAITIS THE United Nations food agency, the World Food Programme (WFP), has won the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat hunger and improve conditions for peace in areas affected by conflict. The Rome-based organisation says it helps some 97 million people in about 88 countries each year, and that one in nine people worldwide still do not have enough to eat. "The need for international solidarity and multilateral cooperation is more conspicuous than ever," Berit Reiss-Andersen, chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, told a news conference. The WFP is a driving force in efforts…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Mozambique asks EU for help in tackling insurgency

NEWS

MOZAMBIQUE has asked the European Union for support in tackling a wave of militant attacks in the country's north by rebels with links to Islamic State, a conflict that has raised fears for stability and security in southern Africa. The Islamist attacks in Cabo Delgado province date to 2017 but the violence has gathered pace this year, with insurgents seizing important towns for brief periods and hitting military and other key targets. The Portuguese news agency Lusa said on Tuesday Mozambique had written to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to ask for help in training its armed forces to…