Palu food aid gone to waste

Palu food aid gone to waste

PALU, Central Sulawesi: The coordinator for the Poso refugees,
Yus Mangun, said on Wednesday 3,000 packages of food aid from the
Kuwaiti government had gone to waste.

Yus, who is an official in the local administration, said the
packages passed their expiration date before they could be
distributed.

He said one of the reasons for this failure was that the
parties assigned to distribute the aid had no experienced in
dealing with refugees.

He did not say who was assigned the task of distributing the
aid. "Their inexperience caused a long delay in channeling the
supplies to the refugees. The delay was so long, the food passed
its expiration date."

According to Yus, other aid meant for the refugees met a
similar fate. Construction materials from the Indonesian Red
Cross was stolen before it could reach the refugees.

Yus said bags of cement and iron bars were looted by local
residents.

Some 2,000 people have taken shelter around Palu to escape the
violence in Poso which has left at least 200 people dead in the
past year. (24)