REOPENING OF THE LIBYA CORRIDOR

The Libya corridor food assistance dispatches, servicing WFP Eastern Chad Operations, were resumed on 27 December 2008. The first convoy of 58 trucks loaded with 1,535 metric tons (MT) of cereals and pulses reached WFP warehouses in Touloum, Oure Cassoni and Iridimi Refugee camps in North-Eastern Chad on 15 January 2009.

The WFP Chad team has been doing an exceptional job over convoys' epic three-week desert journey travelling through 2,800 kilometres of Sahara desert, escorted by Chadian military. Support from the Libyan authorities and WFP colleagues in Al Khufra (Libya) as well as the port of Benghazi (Libya) has been key to the success of this operation.

A second convoy of 100 trucks loaded with 2,653 MT of mixed food commodities left Al Khufra on 11 January 2009 and reached Chad North Eastern camps on 3 February 2009. A third convoy of 101 trucks with 2,807 MT reached Abéché on 17 February after its three-week journey through Libya "western" corridor. It is planned that over 32,000 MT of mixed food commodities will be supplied through the Libyan corridor by the end of June 2009.

The Libyan corridor is vital to guarantee that enough food is pre-positioned throughout Eastern Chad before the end of June, when the five-month rainy season sets in and blocks access to the Refugee/Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps.

For any further information, please contact: WFP.Logistics@wfp.org.