11 African countries to benefit from EU for food aid
Addis Ababa, March 9, 2008 (Addis Ababa) - The European Union has released 160 million euros for emergency food aid for several regions in the world and 11African countries, including Ethioia, according to an official communiqué released in Brussels on Thursday.

The other African countries expected to benefit are Sudan, Chad, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, DR Congo, Tanzania, Burundi, Liberia and Zimbabwe.

According to the communiqué, at least 18.7 million people in different regions o f the world will directly benefit from the food aid. Among them are refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities in the regions affected by mass displacement of populations.

The credit, which would be managed by the World Food Programme (WFP), would serve as food aid to the populations in difficulty following natural disasters, epidemics and armed conflicts, the communiqué said.

The money is also earmarked for the financing of assistance in terms of nutritional recuperation by vulnerable groups of victims of crises. They will also help finance activities of "food for work" aimed at restoring the resources of rural communities.

The communiqué said this would comprise income-generating projects, the restoration of the basic means of subsistence of vulnerable populations who returned to t heir homes or were resettled after a crisis.

The projects, which will be financed by the money, also cover the distribution o f seeds, tools and fertilizers, as well as the supply of means that make it possible to diversify food supply sources, such as fishing and cattle breeding.

R--10-34-11:00 Am

E-- 11:01-11:17

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(c) The Ethiopian News Agency