Last update - 00:00 07/09/2006
UN's World Food Program says sees end to Lebanon aid in October
By Reuters
The UN World Food Program said on Thursday it would probably conclude its emergency operation in Lebanon by the end of next month.
The WFP has said the number of those in immediate need of food, shelter and other aid appears to have fallen since a UN truce between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas began on Aug. 14.
"And it would be my sense given the government's capacity and given our assessment of the food security within the country that by the end of October the kind of emergency support that we provide will no longer be needed," WFP's Executive Director James Morris told reporters in the Lebanese capital.
Almost a quarter of Lebanon's population returned to their homes within four days of the guns falling silent. That, along with the fact that communities have embraced people affected by the war, gave Morris confidence that Lebanon "will be back on its own soon".
Morris said the lifting of Israel's eight week air and sea blockade on Lebanon would allow stranded containers of imported goods to arrive and contribute to rebuilding the economy.
Israel said on Wednesday it had decided to lift the blockade at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
"The lifting of the blockade is a very good thing. It's important symbolically and it's important because people have estimated that maybe as many as 60,000 containers of goods are somewhere stored out on the sea right now that want to come into Lebanon," he said.
Morris said the WFP has provided food to around 714,000 people while the agency's work program today is focused on 350,000 people in Lebanon - 200,000 in south Lebanon, between 120,000-130,000 in Beirut's southern suburbs and about 20,000 people institutionalized in hospitals or orphanages.
The WFP has confirmed $10.8 million towards its emergency operation to provide food aid from donors including Germany, Saudi Arabia, France, Canada, the United States, Japan, Luxembourg, Greece, Denmark and Singapore.