Saturday, October 10, 2009
More than 22,000 metric tons of food reached 1.3 million Somalis during September, but the agency had hoped to feed 3 million Somalis with 48,000 metric tons.
The WFP needs nearly $200 million to feed 3.3 million hungry Somalis through April 2010.
The U.N. Population Fund joined a local organization to distribute hygiene kits, including soap and towels, to people living in a settlement for internally displaced persons outside Mogadishu, the capital.
In an area of the Bakool region in western Somalia called Waajid, the U.N. Children's Fund and the U.N. Political Office for Somalia are rebuilding classrooms, creating separate latrines for boys and girls and constructing a water tank for use by 400 children.
There has been slow but notable progress toward stability, a U.N. official told the Security Council. She said international financial support for the transitional government is essential.
"Money received today in Somalia will have far greater impact on stability than that which arrives in three months' time," said B. Lynn Pascoe, U.N. under-secretary-general for political affairs.
Source: UPI, Oct 10, 2009