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World Food Programme Hails Canada For Protecting Food Ships Headed For Somalia

The United Nations World Food Programme welcomed Canada’s decision to deploy a frigate to Somalia to protect WFP food ships against piracy.

“WFP is grateful for Canada’s leadership in protecting our maritime lifeline from piracy - this is a critical moment when more food is needed for a growing number of hungry,” said WFP Country Director Peter Goossens.

Canada stepped forward after WFP made a strong appeal for naval escorts in July. WFP said that it hoped other governments would step forward to take over from Canada once it completes its mission in a few weeks.

Frigates from France, Denmark and the Netherlands in succession have provided escorts for WFP ships from November last year until late June. The naval escorts proved to be an effective deterrent against pirates, who have launched at least 24 attacks so far this year off Somalia’s coast.

Ninety percent of WFP food assistance for Somalia arrives by sea. Since a naval escort system began last November, no escorted ships carrying WFP food have been attacked. The last escorted ship loaded with WFP food arrived in Mogadishu in late June.

There were a total of 31 incidents off Somalia in 2007 - the worst year on record for Somali piracy.

Without escorts, WFP’s whole maritime supply route is under threat. Since naval escorts ended in late June, some shippers have refused to load WFP food for Somalia.

Canada has given US$15.7 million to WFP operations in Somalia since August 2007 including US$5.4 million in 2008, making it the third largest donor to WFP’s operations in Somalia, as well as worldwide.

WFP urgently needs to double the amount of food it delivers to Somalia through the coming months so it can feed 2.4 million people by December.

Insecurity, drought, a succession of poor or failed harvests, the weakness of the Somali shilling against the dollar, coupled with rising food and fuel prices, are deepening the suffering of millions of people in Somalia and pushing hundreds of thousands into destitution.

WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency and the UN’s frontline agency for hunger solutions. This year, WFP plans to feed around 90 million people in 80 countries.

WFP now provides RSS feeds to help journalists keep up with the latest press releases, videos and photos as they are published on WFP.org. For more details see: http://www.wfp.org

http://www.wfp.org