UN Sends Kilometre-Long Food Convoy Across Sahara for Darfur Refugees in Chad

THE LONG PATH TO RELIEF
U.S. food takes 3 months to get to Chad



Above is a map of the long path to relief. After a month-long trip down the Mississippi River and across the Atlantic, U.S. food arrives on the coast of Cameroon.

From there it's 10 to 15 days to get it to Chad and at least a week until it makes it to the camps.

With delays, the entire trip can take 3 months.
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UN Sends Kilometre-Long Food Convoy Across Sahara for Darfur Refugees in Chad

For the first time, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is sending United States food assistance through Libya along a 2,800-kilometre-long humanitarian corridor across the Sahara desert to reach nearly 200,000 Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad.



"This is by far the biggest WFP shipment through Libya to Chad," WFP Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East Mohamed Diab told a news conference today in the Libyan city of Al Kufra on the edge of the Sahara.

"A one kilometre-long convoy of trucks is an impressive sight, and we are very grateful to the Libyan authorities for allowing us to use this corridor."

Donated by the US Government, the food includes sorghum, cornmeal, lentils, vegetable oil and corn-soya blend, allowing WFP to provide the 200,000 refugees with almost all the commodities needed for their daily diet over a two-month period.