Russia donates 53 food delivery trucks to WFP in Uganda

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The World Food Programme-WFP has received 53 light and 10 heavy-duty KAMAZ trucks to add to its delivery fleet, thanks to a donation by the Government of Russia.

The vehicles worth USD 10.2 Million (38 billion Shillings) will be used to respond to emergencies in the East and Central Africa region from the UN agency’s regional logistics hub in Kampala.

The WFP Country Program Director, El-Khidir Daloum says the donation is a major boost for navigating the difficult landscapes and road terrains in the Great Lakes region. He says that with the fleet, WFP will reach sections of the 850 food-insecure people and 150 million malnourished children in the world.

According to Daloum, some of the trucks will be used to deliver food to refugees in South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia where the private sector providing transport services are hesitant to reach for security reasons.

In January this year, the Russian Federation donated USD 1.5 million approximately  6 Billion Shillings towards refugee operations in Uganda.  This is the third major donation the Russian Federation is making since 2015 to the WFP global feet.

In 2015, the federation donated more than 40 trucks to serve in Afghanistan and another 97 trucks to the regional logistics hub in Kenya and Uganda in May this year.

Khidir says the development brings the global World Food Programe fleet to nearly 900 heavy duty trucks capable of navigating some of the toughest world terrains and mountainous areas.

Alexander Polyakov, the Russian Ambassador to Uganda, says in 2015, the Russian Federation donated to WFP more than 210 Kamaz trucks, fuel tankers and mobile repair equipment to better respond to the food delivery and those in need.

Polyakov says the Russian Federation is fully involved in the noble mission of the international community to deliver humanitarian assistance to people in the remotest areas of the world including South Sudan.

He says he is confident Russia has made worthy contributions to help address the plight of those in need and help a lot of people to survive in the coming years.

Engineer Hilary Onek, the Minister of Disaster Preparedness and Refugees presided over the delivery of the vehicles at Butto ward in Bweyogerere, Kampala. He said the donations marks an important milestone in emergency humanitarian assistance in the region.

Eng. Onek said the strategic location of Uganda makes the country ideal to coordinate humanitarian efforts in East and Central Africa. Uganda is home to 1.3 million refugees settled in 11 refugee settlements.

They are predominantly dependent on humanitarian food assistance from the World Food Programme.

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