13 Apr 2011

LIBYA / AID SHIP

A WFP humanitarian vessel carrying life-saving food, medical supplies, doctors and other relief items reached Misrata port last week, opening up a new humanitarian lifeline to civilians trapped in the Libyan conflict. WFP

Posted at: April 13, 2011 12:27 pm

Duration: 02:27

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: LIBYA / AID SHIP
TRT: 2:27
SOURCE: WFP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 8 APRIL 2011, MISRATA, LIBYA / 12 APRIL 2011, ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT

SHOTLIST:

8 APRIL 2011, MISRATA, LIBYA

1. Various shots, WFP chartered ship carrying food and other humanitarian aid at Misrata port unloading

12 APRIL 2011, ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Andreas Krossa, Captain, World Food Programme ship:
"They were very happy, I can say, very grateful for the help, for the food and for everything we have in the cargo."

8 APRIL 2011, MISRATA, LIBYA

3. Various shots, unloading food and other humanitarian aid

12 APRIL 2011, ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Andreas Krossa, Captain, World Food Programme ship:
"When they saw all this cargo they asked me 'is this all for us?' Like they don't believe they would get a full cargo, a full ship."
5. Various shots, Spanish and Libyan/ British evacuees rescued from Misrata
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohammed Fortia, Student: 
"They need the basic stuff, they need flour, they need water; they just need really basic necessities, because they don't have anything."
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Fortia, Doctor:
"Many things are expired, you know, like children's things; the main thing is we haven't eaten meat for a long time because all the sheep and the cows have died from thirst, nobody's giving them water."
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohammed and Yousef Fortia, Students: 
"Obviously, everyone wants to go back to their home town to their home country. This is my last year and I'll be graduating and all my teachers-because I have been studying at the international school in Tripoli, all my teachers have left and everything so I don't even know if I am going to graduate this year."
9. Various shots, Spanish and Libyan/ British evacuees rescued from Misrata leaving ship

STORYLINE:

A World Food Programme (WFP) humanitarian vessel carrying life-saving food, medical supplies, doctors and other relief items reached Misrata port last week (8 Apr), opening up a new humanitarian lifeline to civilians trapped in the Libyan conflict.

The vessel was carrying more than 600 metric tons of WFP food including wheat flour, vegetable oil and high energy biscuits, enough to feed more than 40,000 people for a month. It also delivered medical supplies on behalf of UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The UNICEF and WHO emergency health kits and surgical material will cover the urgent needs for 50,000 people for a month. Other materials will enable thousands of children to play in the relative safety of indoors. Two doctors are on board and will disembark at Misrata.

While docked at Alexandria, Egypt earlier this week (12 Apr), the ship's Captain Andreas Krossa said the people in Misrata were "very grateful for the help, for the food and for everything we have in the cargo."

WFP began moving food supplies into Libya soon after the conflict erupted and has pre-positioned more than 17,000 metric tons of food stocks inside the country and across the region, as part of a US$42 million emergency operation that will provide food assistance to more than one million people in Libya and neighbouring countries.

Working with partners such as the Libyan Red Crescent, WFP plans to provide food to more than 600,000 people inside Libya over the next three months.

Doctor Fortia and her two sons, Mohammed and Yousef, were three of the seven evacuees on board the WFP ship. Mohammed and Yousef said it was important to one day return back to their home country, especially to go back to school and complete their education.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), almost 500,000 people have fled Libya since mid-February, including some 200,000 to Egypt, 236,000 to Tunisia, more than 36,000 to Niger, about 14,000 to Algeria, 6,200 to Chad and 2,800 to Sudan.