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Tuesday
Feb 09th

Pretoria's donation to WFP helps feed hungry in Africa

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Tuesday welcomed a R3 million (US$400,000) donation from the South Africa government which the food agency said will help to feed thousands of hungry families in the Horn of Africa region.

WFP said the donation would be split equally, with R1.5 million supporting WFP's emergency activities in Ethiopia and the other R1.5 million boosting WFP's lifesaving operations in Soma lia.

''WFP is extremely grateful to the South African government for this very timely and generous contribution,'' Ramiro Lopes da Silva, WFP's Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, said.

''This donation will provide vital food rations to extremely vulnerable people in Ethiopia and Somalia, helping them to cope with the devastating impact of drought, high food prices and the global economic crisis,'' he said.

The latest contribution follows a R1.3 million (US$173,000) donation in May 2009 from the Government of South Africa to WFP's operations in Ethiopia.

South Africa also donated R1.3 million to WFP's operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo in March 2009, bringing total contributions this year to R5.6 million (US$750,000).

WFP has been scaling up its operations in countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, which have suffered due to a combination of prolonged drought, recurring conflict, continued high food prices and the global financial crisis.

Lusaka - 24/11/2009

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