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STORY: WFP AIRDROP/SUDAN

TRT: 2:40

SOURCE: UNMIS

RESTRICTIONS: NONE

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ANYUAK / NATS

DATELINE: NOVEMBER 11 2009, JUBA – POCHALLA - SUDAN

DATELINE: NOVEMBER 9-2009 JUBA

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide shot, WFP warehouse

2. Wide shot, carrying food bags

3. Med shot, debagging food bags

4. Med shot, carrying food bags

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Iseminger, Head of Programme, World Food Programme, South Sudan:

“The Food and security situation in the country is just massively

expanding because of the poor rain fall the high food prices, people can

not afford to buy food in the market and basically conflict which is

displacing people and not making them able to do their agricultural

production “

6. Wide shot, Ilyushin-76 aircraft at Juba airport

7. Med shot, loading aircraft

8. Med shot, WFP bags inside aircraft

9. Med shot, pilots entering aircraft

10. Wide shot, Ilyushin-76 aircraft taking off

DATELINE NOVEMBER 10, 2009 POCHALLA - SUDAN

11. Wide shot, community under a tree in Pochalla

12. Medium shot, mother and child waiting for food aid

13.Close up, child feeding on mothers breast

14. Medium shot, Jai Gora Odor waiting for food aid

15. Close up, Jai Gora Odor feet

16. SOUNDBITE: (Anyuak) Jai Gora Odor “There is lack of food here, you

can even see it from the physical appearance of the people. We are only feeding on the branches of the trees and wild fruits.”

17.SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Iseminger, Head of Programme, World Food Programme, South Sudan. “At this point because of the severity of the situation and because of the accessibility problem we really don’t have a choice except to get the food in by air.”

18. Medium shot, a man telling people to leave the airdrop area

19. Shot of airdrop

20. Bags being dropped

21. Bags dropping on ground

22. Wide shot, Pochalla community getting their rations

23. Medium shot, getting food aid

24. Dragging a bag of food

STORYLINE

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has started an airlift of food for

over 150,000 people living in areas that cannot be accessed by road in

Sudan’s ten southern states. The region is plagued by tribal violence,

high food prices and poor harvests induced by drought.

The airdrops, which began last Thursday, will continue through January

of next year and will deliver 4,000 metric tons of food to the hardest

hit southern Sudanese states of Jonglei, Upper Nile and Warrap.

SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Iseminger, Head of Programme, World Food Programme, Southern Sudan. “The food and security situation in the country is just massively expanding because of the poor rainfall, the

high food prices. People can not afford to buy food in the market and

basically conflict which is displacing people and not making them able

to do their agricultural production “

Many roads are in bad condition and cannot be used during the rainy

season that stretches from April until December. Increased tribal

fighting has also blocked road and river access to some areas of

southern Sudan. Today 36 metric tons of food items were dropped from WFP aircraft to the Jonglei state town of Pochalla.

As she waited for the arrival of food aid, Pochalla resident Jai Gora

Odor said that the whole community is suffering on account of food

scarcity.

SOUNDBITE: (Anyuak) Jai Gora Odor

“There is lack of food here, you can even see it from the physical

appearance of the people. We are only feeding on the branches of the

trees and wild fruits.”

To carry out the airdrops, WFP is using Ilyushin-76 planes that can

carry up to 36 metric tons of food on each flight. Airlifts are a more

expensive way to bring food than would be the case by road or river.

SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Iseminger, Head of Programme, World Food Programme, South Sudan. “At this point because of the severity of the situation and because of the accessibility problem, we really don’t have a choice except to get the food in by air.”

WFP lost 725 metric tons of food in June this year when a convoy of

barges laden with food aid was attacked on the Sobat River. The sorghum

and other food supplies on the barges had been earmarked for the town of

Akobo, which is host to large numbers of civilians displaced by tribal

fighting that has afflicted many parts of southern Sudan this year.

WFP has sent out an appeal for another US$44 million in funding to

deliver 22,000 metric tons of food to feed 300,000 people facing severe

food shortages in southern Sudan. Half of the food will be delivered by

airdrops and the rest by road and barge.

WFP has thus far received US$14.5 million – US$6 million from the UN

Common Humanitarian Fund, US$6 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund and US$2.5 million from the United States Agency for International Development.