WFP IS LEAVING AND IS NOT PROMISING TO COME BACK

Famine is probably one of the most terrible things that mankind has ever encountered. War, drought, floods and various other natural disasters can all easily provoke a shortage of food in a country and consequently, famine. Someone is probably not even thinking that people can die of famine in the modern world. But it is a fact that is difficult to dispute. According to the UN, there are more than 850 million people suffering from famine and malnutrition in the world, and more than half of them are children.

Eighteen thousand children die of famine every day. Due to the continuing growth in the basic number of the population, the absolute majority of those suffering from famine increases by about 5 million people every year. For this reason, the fight against famine is one of the priority tasks of the UN.

One of the UN agencies - the World Food Programme - is meant to combat this problem. This organization was set up in 1963 following an agreement between the Economic and Social Council and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. The work of the WFP is regulated by the WFP Council which includes 36 countries.

The WFP places the main emphasis in its work on food aid to countries that have an extremely low level of per capita income and suffer from a chronic shortage of food and on meeting the urgent needs of victims of armed conflicts and natural disasters. The main donors of the programme are the USA, Canada, the European Union (Germany, Holland, Denmark and Sweden stand out among EU member states), as well as Japan.

In our country, the programme has been working since refugees and displaced persons appeared as a result of the Karabakh conflict. At that time, the number of citizens who lost the roof over their head and their sources of income exceeded one million. It is clear that in the early 1990s, the government of our country was not in a position to provide everyone with everything necessary on its own. For this reason, various humanitarian organizations came to help Azerbaijan, including the WFP. It was this programme that supplied significant aid to Azerbaijani refugees and displaced persons, providing them with necessary food products for quite a long time. However, it was reported recently that the WFP has considerably reduced the amount of aid to these people, and literally a few days ago, we found out that the WFP is leaving Azerbaijan. This information surprised many because the Karabakh conflict has not been solved yet and Azerbaijan still has refugees. In order to clarify this issue, an R+ correspondent met the regional public relations coordinator of the UN WFP in Azerbaijan, Khaled Mansour.

- What is the reason for the considerable cut in WFP aid to Azerbaijani refugees?

- As you known, the WFP started working in Azerbaijan in 1993, i.e. from the very beginning of the Karabakh conflict and from the moment the first refugees and displaced persons appeared on the territory of your country. At the beginning, the WFP rendered aid to 500,000 refugees, but at this moment, this figure has fallen to 130,000.

I want to specify right at the start: the number of people we help has been reduced not because the problem has been solved and the Karabakh conflict has already been settled and not because the UN is not interested in the further fate of these people. The amount of aid has been cut only because the Azerbaijani government itself is able to provide the refugees with necessary aid. Moreover, Azerbaijan itself is a donor of the WFP today.

We also have to point out that the number of refugees and displaced persons who need aid have fallen. The thing is that many of them have moved to cities, found jobs, bought houses and can make their living themselves.

- In this case, we would like to know when the WFP will finally suspend its work in Azerbaijan?

- Officially, the programme in Azerbaijan expires in June 2008, but this does mean that the Food Programme will immediately leave the country after that. The programme will be completely suspended after the Azerbaijani government itself notifies us that it does not need our services any more and can support its refugees on its own.

- As you said, you are helping 130,000 refugees and displaced persons at the moment. Where are these people living - in cities or rural areas?

- We are not helping people living in cities. All these 130,000 displaced persons and refugees are living in rural areas. We have WFP offices in Imisli and Mingacevir which provide them with food aid. On the whole, aid is supplied to 15 districts. Six districts receive aid from Imisli and nine from Mingacevir.

- What is the cost of food aid rendered to Azerbaijan in 14 years of your work?

- Beginning from 1994 to date, the WFP has supplied Azerbaijan with 150,000 t of various food products worth 114 million dollars.

- Is the WFP a programme working only with refugees and displaced persons, or do you also help all strata of the population that need aid?

- As far as Azerbaijan is concerned, the government of your country has never asked us to help any strata other than refugees, and that's why we have never had such an issue. As for our work worldwide, in some countries we really help poor and needy people, for example in Tajikistan. But we are doing this only in countries where the number of poor people is very high, and Azerbaijan is not one of these countries. The WFP usually works in countries where a war goes on or various natural disasters happen, as well as in countries where the death rate is too high due to famine and lack of food.

- How do you know that this or that country needs your help? Do you carry out monitoring or come to a country at the request of its government?

- Indeed, we have many staff members who monitor the situation in the world to study the population's access to food products, which is why the WFP has an idea where our help is needed first of all. However, we will not start working if the government does not ask us for help.

As for the factors that prompt us to begin working in this or that country, apart from a relevant request from the government, we have to take account of the amount of funding from our donors.

- Well, since we are talking about donors, I would like to find out whether they allocate their aid in food or cash?

- More often these are products, however, in rare cases, it might be money as well, which we use to buy food ourselves. Incidentally, our staff members decide where to buy food - in the country that receives aid or in a neighbouring state. We announce a tender and make a decision on the basis of the most profitable decision.

- The WFP is working with a great number of food products. How do you monitor the quality of your food?

- You are right. The WFP works with five million t of food every year, and of course, all the products we buy should meet the necessary sanitary-hygienic norms and standards. If a donor country provides us with food products, they must have all the necessary documents, and if we buy food products ourselves, we demand quality certificates from the company we buy them from.

- Does the WFP have some minimum food basket on the basis of which you buy food for people who need it?

- No, we have no minimum food basket. But the general principle is that every person should get no less than 2,000 calories per day. Our food aid is a kind of "simple ration" which can be easily delivered to a country and handed out to the population. The "simple ration" definitely includes flour, butter, peas, salt and sugar. But this is not our standard set, because in some countries people prefer rice to flour. As for the countries that have a high number of starving children, we provide them with child food.

- Why is the choice of food so limited?

- The thing is that other products, including semi-products, have a much shorter expiry date, and some of them need certain conditions. For example, if we need to deliver meat products, we have to buy big refrigerators in advance, which means that the price of the products we buy will increase.

- Did Azerbaijan receive the last batch of WFP donor aid from Saudi Arabia?

- Yes, indeed. Saudi Arabia has rendered humanitarian aid to 380 families of displaced persons in Azerbaijan. The humanitarian aid was delivered during a visit to Beylaqan District by Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Azerbai-jan and WFP regional director Lynne Miller. 1,600 displaced persons living in the district received three t of date from Saudi Arabia. We have to point out that as part of the WFP's humanitarian activity worldwide, Saudi Arabia has provided aid worth 54 million dollars over the last seven years.