WFP FACES MAJOR SETBACKS & DEVELOPMENTS IN ITS ABILITY TO DELIVER URGENT AID TO LEBANON , Overnight bombing of the highway north from Beirut to the Syrian border has cut the road in at least three places and reportedly destroyed critical bridges. This could effectively sever the vital humanitarian lifeline between Lebanon and the outside world.
WORLD’S FIRST HUMANITARIAN INSURANCE POLICY ISSUED ADDIS ABABA – The United Nations World Food Programme announced today that AXA RE has been awarded the world’s first insurance contract for humanitarian emergencies. The contract provides US $7 million in contingency funding in a pilot scheme to provide coverage in the case of an extreme drought during Ethiopia’s 2006 agricultural season.
BLEAKEST MALNUTRITION SITUATION IN SOMALIA IN YEARS - WFP & UNICEF NAIROBI - Recent outbreaks of fighting and the worst drought in a decade have pushed many people in Somalia to their limit, creating the bleakest malnutrition situation in years, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned today.