African Unification Front
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Wondekenema and Katkama IDP Camps, Mano River Basin
Guinea-Conakry is currently host to the largest refugee population in the African Union. In April, 2000, at least 450,000 refugees, were living in Guinea. Refugees have come to Guinea from three neighboring republics that have suffered civil war over the last decade: Guinea Bissau, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
While Guinea hosts less than 1,000 refugees from Guinea Bissau who were waiting to be repatriated, there are an estimated 130,000 Africans from Liberia, along with at least 350,000 Sierra Leonians still living in Guinea, the latter having fled from a particularly brutal and savage war.
Approximately 364,250 of the dispalced people (including 80,000 school-aged children) in the Mano River Basin depend on bulgur (parched cracked wheat), beans, CSB (Corn-Soya Blend) and vegetable oil.
The office of the United States Disaster Assistance (USDA) buys food-aid commodities from American Farmers, and then brings the food aid to a stateside port. USAID's Food For Peace provides a two-year global pledge which enables WFP to buy the food aid, pay for the cost of transporting the food to the region, and operate its program in Guinea.
Three to six months later, the food-aid arrives in Guinea. It is then transported to regional warehouses in Gueckedou and Forecariah, in the South and Southeastern corners of Guinea, by private Guinean transporters. This process takes anywhere from two to four weeks. From the regional warehouses, food is put on trucks owned by GTZ, a German NGO and partner in relief implementation. It is then transported (paid for by the UNHCR) to the final distribution point, a local warehouse located in the refugee camp. The food is then ready for "immediate" general distribution within the camps.
This year FFP a USAID office in the Bureau of BHR, was responsible for providing around 49,000 metric tons of food aid to WFP in Guinea. WFP and their implementing agencies such as CARE, IRC and IFRC are responsible for distributing 3,500 to 4,000 metric tons of food per month. The amount of food delivered depends upon such local factors as road conditions (especially during the rainy season) and the availability of a fleet of old delivery trucks.
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