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Belgium donates 325m/- food aid to Tanzania
2006-02-20 07:14:36
By Guardian Reporter
Belgium says it will donate emergency food aid worth 250,000 euros (325m/-) to drought-hit Tanzania.
The Belgian Development Co-operation Minister, Armand De Dekker, said in a communiqué issued in Brussels that the aid would be distributed in 12 regions.
The World Food Programme will manage the funds to buy basic foodstuffs for the needy.
De Dekker urged Tanzanian authorities to implement lasting solutions with the contribution of donor countries and multilateral donors so as to avoid recurrent food crises in the country.
The government last week appealed for 100,000 tonnes of relief food to help nearly four million people threatened by famine in the wake of a drought that is ravaging several eastern African nations.
’’The food shortage is acute and widespread. May I, on behalf of the government of Tanzania, officially request you to consider the situation and assist?’’ Prime Minister Edward Lowassa asked a meeting of donors in the administrative capital Dodoma.
Lowassa said an assessment done by the National Food Security Information Team (FSIT) showed that 3.7 million people were at risk of famine and needed 99,676 tons of relief food between February and April.
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