WFP bid to boost capacity 29 Apr 2009 08:41:33 GMT
BERBERA, 29 April 2009 (IRIN) - The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is expanding its storage capacity in the port of Berbera in the self-declared republic of Somaliland to boost aid delivery in the Horn of Africa region, officials said.
"In conjunction with the authorities in Somaliland, WFP has expanded its storage capacity in order to enhance its Somalia operations as well as transit food aid cargo required in the region," Mahamud Hassan Guled, WFP Somalia's senior public information assistant, told IRIN in Nairobi.
He said the port also served northeastern and central regions of Somalia.
WFP uses the port of Mombasa in Kenya and Djibouti but piracy off Somalia's coast has threatened ships carrying its food.
Berbera port officials told IRIN talks with WFP over increased use of the port were ongoing.
Ali Omar Mohamed, the Berbera Port Authority chairman, said on 26 April: "They [WFP] have told us several times that they are going to use Berbera port as a hub for the region's food aid and the talks are continuing; the port continues to provide services to its other customers."
However, Berbera mayor Abdalla Mohamed Ali said WFP was already building food stores in the town of Berbera.
"WFP requested us to give them warehouses to store more food aid coming through Berbera port, but we told them that all the stores are full; we told them to build mobile stores in another part of town," Ali told IRIN. "And these are temporary stores, not permanent ones."
Said Ahmed Aden Dhere, a local journalist in Berbera, said: "WFP has already built huge warehouses in the southwest of town, where it keeps its food aid."
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