United Nations Radio

The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service run by the World Food Programme is struggling to keep its planes flying in parts of Africa due to shortage of funds.

UNHAS helicopter

The flights carry aid workers to remote locations where they provide vital assistance for hundreds of thousands of people-many of whom have been driven from their homes by conflict. Patrick Maigua reports from Geneva
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The United Nations Humanitarian air service operates in Chad, Sudan, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, West Africa and Afghanistan. This year the service had a budget of $160 million, but has only received contributions totaling $40 million. WFP says the worst affected are air services to Chad, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and which will run out of funds by the end of August. The UN humanitarian air service, which is operated by WFP, carries aid workers to emergency operations where they provide support and assistance to populations affected by war and natural disasters. Emilia Casella is WFP spokesperson in Geneva.

"The air service in Chad, a service that flies an average of 4,000 humanitarian passengers back and forth to eastern Chad each month is currently facing such a shortfall that it will as of 15th August have to cut aircraft and flights unless new funds are urgently found and eventually it may have to close.  In addition, the service to the West Africa coastal region, which comprises of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, will probably have to begin to reduce service at the end of August. The difficulty with that service is that there is only one plane. If we cannot afford to keep that plane in the air, those countries will cease to have any way to get humanitarian workers to very important field operations."

She says the Chad service requires $6.7 million while the West Africa service requires $3.3 million to operate. This is the second time this year that the UN Humanitarian air service has been forced to cut its operations. In February, humanitarian air services to Ivory Coast and Niger were suspended due to lack of funds.

Patrick Maigua UN Radio Geneva

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