WFP to feed 2.1 million Indonesians<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The United Nations food agency on Monday launched a program to
\nfeed 2.1 million of the poorest Indonesians, including hundreds
\nof thousands of people displaced by sectarian and separatist
\nviolence.<\/p>\n
The operation by the World Food Program (WFP) will cost US$65
\nmillion and run until the end of 2003, the organization said.<\/p>\n
The program is aimed at 2.1 million Indonesians who face the
\nhighest risk of hunger and malnutrition because of the rising
\ncosts of food and other commodities, the WFP said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The relief operation will enable the 1.5 million urban poor to
\nbuy subsidized rice at a fraction of the normal price.<\/p>\n
WFP will also give rice to 300,000 internally displaced people
\nthroughout the archipelago as well as blended food, a vital
\nnutritional supplement, to children aged under two years and
\ntheir mothers.<\/p>\n
\"The operation is designed to solve at least one problem for
\nthese people -- getting just enough to eat -- so they can grapple
\nmore effectively with serious setbacks of poverty, unemployment
\nand poor health,\" said WFP country director Mohamed Saleheen in
\nthe statement.<\/p>\n
\"We know, for example, that in the four major cities where we
\nwork, half of the children under five years of age are stunted
\nand 30 percent are underweight.<\/p>\n
\"This is the result of acute and widespread malnutrition and
\nwe need to short-circuit it now so that it is not passed on to
\nthe next generation,\" Saleheen said.<\/p>\n
He said unskilled urban laborers in Indonesia earned half what
\nthey did before the regional crisis struck in mid-1997 and
\ncrippled the economy.<\/p>\n
In addition, Saleheen said, many in WFP's target group had no
\naccess to government social safety nets because they were illegal
\nsettlers.<\/p>\n
A recent WFP study showed the number of poor people among the
\ninternally displaced Indonesians was about three times higher
\nthan the overall average of 19 percent at district level.<\/p>\n
\"The IDP (internally displaced people) wave has risen in just
\nthe last three years,\" said Saleheen. \"That means that we still
\nhave an opportunity to fix these problems before they harden into
\na second generation.\"<\/p>\n
Indonesia was beset by sectarian and separatist unrests
\nfollowing the end of the 32-year autocratic rule of Soeharto in
\nMay 1998. An estimated 1.3 million people are internal refugees.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/wfp-to-feed-21-million-indonesians-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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