RWANDA: UN details drought programme

Follow @{0}NAIROBI, 19 November 1999 (IRIN) - UN agencies in Rwanda have detailed a six-month US $12.9 million programme to provide food aid and agricultural inputs to drought-affected communities. An OCHA drought situation report issued on Thursday said some 18,000 mt of WFP emergency food aid was required for distribution in Umutara, Kibungo, Gikongoro, Butare and Kigali-Rural, while FAO would provide seeds, tools and animals in affected areas. Earlier this month, the government said some 178,000 households were drought-affected. The UN assistance programme is based on the preliminary findings of a 2-5 November assessment mission. “The UN system is concerned with the drought situation in Rwanda, particularly in the most affected areas which host large numbers of returnees and lack basic socio-economic infrastructure,” the OCHA report stated.