The Star (Nairobi)

Kenya: WFP Resumes Food Supply to Kismayu

By Martin Mwaura, 31 January 2013
Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN
Internally displaced persons in Kismayo (file photo). After more than four years, United Nations food assistance has returned to Somalia's southern port city.

THE United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has resumed food assistance to the Somali port city of Kismayu for the first time in four years, the agency said on Tuesday.

The move follows a successful pacification of the city by Africa Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces that had led to relative peace.

The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) navy ships that routinely patrol Kismayu have allowed for the dispatch of a ship carrying over 1,100 metric tons of food to desperate residents.

The latest bulletin by WFP says nearly half of households in the area face starvation and were in desperate need of food support.

In the media release, Stefano Porretti, the WFP representative in Somalia, is quoted as saying the organisation had set up three feeding centres to provide hot meals to over 15,000 residents.

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