Maputo, Mozambique — Funds pledged by the international community at the donor conference held in Rome last May to discuss funds for reconstruction after the disastrous flooding in southern Mozambique in February 2000 continues to trickle in.

On Wednesday the Mozambican and Japanese governments signed an agreement under which the latter is to provide 510 million yen (more than 4.8 million US dollars) to buy rice for the victims of the 2000 floods.

"The food aid is a partial realisation of the aid promised by the Japanese government at the Rome donor conference for the post-flood reconstruction to the tune of 30 million US dollars", said a press release from the Japanese embassy in Maputo.

Japan had earlier in February made available 300 million-yen intended for food aid, which was channelled through the World Food Programme (WFP).

Thanks to the slow wheel of bureaucracy, the money is arriving more than 10 months after it was pledged, and when the country is facing yet another flood crisis, this time in the Zambezi valley in central Mozambique.