1. Various shots, people standing in queue to receive food aid fom WFP
2. Med shot, young man lifting a large bag of rice
3. Wide shot, people receiving food aid

9 JANUARY 2014, DAKAR, SENEGAL

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Denise Brown, Regional Director WFP West Africa:
“The entire humanitarian community has come together in Bangui to deliver much needed assistance to the displaced people at the international airport. Previous attempts to deliver food and non food items have failed because of insecuirty ”

7 JANUARY 2014, BANGUI AIRPORT, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR)

5. Wide shot, people standing in queue to receive food aid
6. Various shots, people carrying bags of rice

9 JANUARY 2014, DAKAR, SENEGAL

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Denise Brown, Regional Director WFP West Africa:
“It is on-going and we absolutely need to reach all people at the airport. At the same time, our distributiions to the entire displaced community in Bagui continue to all groups of people who are in need of assistance”

24 DECEMBER 2013, BOSSANGOA, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR)

8. Pan right, burned homes
10. Med shot, woman carrying bag of food received from WFP
11. Various shots, displaced people cooking and eating food

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Storyline

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is distributing rice, beans and oil to families at Bangui International Airport where an estimated 100,000 people have sought refuge.

The food distributions resumed on Tuesday (7 Jan) without incident after a three-week break because of insecurity at the site, and continued on Wednesday and Thursday.

On the first two days, WFP has distributed food rations to close to 10,000 people.

WFP and its partners plan to provide food to all the displaced at the airport over a ten-day period.

SOUNDBITE (English) Denise Brown, Regional Director WFP West Africa:
“The entire humanitarian community has come together in Bangui to deliver much needed assistance to the displaced people at the international airport. Previous attempts to deliver food and non food items have failed because of insecuirty ”

In CAR as elsewhere, WFP provides food assistance on the basis of need, irrespective of race, religion and ethnicity. The agency urged all parties to the conflict in CAR to provide safe access to humanitarian workers and supplies to all people who are in need of assistance wherever they are.

SOUNDBITE (English) Denise Brown, Regional Director WFP West Africa:
“It is on-going and we absolutely need to reach all people at the airport. At the same time, our distributiions to the entire displaced community in Bagui continue to all groups of people who are in need of assistance.”

WFP is providing food assistance to the displaced in Bangui and several other locations in the northwest of the country. WFP has provided food for more than 250,000 people in CAR since violence intensified on 5 December.

WFP has appealed for nearly US$107 million to scale up food distributions in CAR to assist up to 1.25 million people from January through August as growing numbers go hungry. Unless funds are forthcoming swiftly, food supplies in CAR will run short in February.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a message to the extraordinary summit of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), today expressed concern about the situation in the Central African Republic. He noted that the danger of further upheaval along religious lines is real and poses a long-term danger to the country.

The Secretary-General added that it is essential to rapidly address this challenge and prioritize reconciliation efforts.

He also stressed the importance of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of armed groups and said the presence of conditions conducive to such an exercise must be ensured.

The Secretary-General also said he was troubled by the humanitarian and human rights situation in the Central African Republic.