WFP to extend Mozambique relief to March 2001

MAPUTO, Mozambique (Reuters) -- The World Food Programme said on Thursday it would extend its operations in Mozambique until March next year to feed about 172,000 people dependent on food aid after devastating floods earlier this year.

"We have decided to extend the relief programme because we have seen that many people have planted but the harvest will not be good," WFP programme officer Inyene Udoyene told Reuters.

The WFP -- the food aid arm of the United Nations -- originally planned to carry out relief operations in the impoverished southern African until mid-September.

Much of Mozambique's infrastructure was swept away by torrential floods earlier this year which left hundreds dead, displaced hundreds of thousands and put the brakes on an economy that was the fastest growing in Africa.

Udoyene said the WFP would soon launch an appeal for more financial support.

"Fortunately, most of these people have resumed their normal lives in their places of origin or new resettlement areas, leaving about 6,000 in accommodation centers," he said.

He added that the WFP had spent about $7 million and had distributed about 30,000 tons of food aid in Mozambique since February.

"The WFP is now ending the free food distribution and concentrating more on food for work schemes, although we suspect that people who may have a crop now may come back in need of free food a bit later in the year as their reserves may not last long because of the quality of the crop," he said.

He also said that therapeutic programmes would continue because many children under the age of five in the flood-stricken areas were malnourished.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For more Africa news, myCNN.com will bring you news from the areas and subjects you select.

See related sites about Africa

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.