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Berbera, Somaliland, May 2, 2009, 2009 –
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is expanding its storage capacity in
the port of Berbera in Somaliland to boost aid delivery in the Horn of
Africa region, officials said.
"In conjunction with the authorities in Somaliland, WFP has expanded its
storage capacity in order to enhance its Somalia operations as well as
transit food aid cargo required in the region," Mahamud Hassan Guled,
WFP Somalia's senior public information assistant, told IRIN in Nairobi.
He said the port also served northeastern and central regions of
Somalia.
WFP uses the port of Mombassa in Kenya and Djibouti but piracy off
Somalia's coast has threatened ships carrying its food.
Berbera port officials told IRIN talks with WFP over increased use of
the port were ongoing.
Ali Omar Mohamed, the Berbera Port Authority chairman, said on 26 April:
"They [WFP] have told us several times that they are going to use
Berbera port as a hub for the region's food aid and the talks are
continuing; the port continues to provide services to its other
customers."
However, Berbera mayor Abdalla Mohamed Ali said WFP was already building
food stores in the town of Berbera.
"WFP requested us to give them warehouses to store more food aid coming
through Berbera port, but we told them that all the stores are full; we
told them to build mobile stores in another part of town," Ali told IRIN.
"And these are temporary stores, not permanent ones."
Said Ahmed Aden Dhere, a local journalist in Berbera, said: "WFP has
already built huge warehouses in the southwest of town, where it keeps
its food aid."
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Source: IRIN, April 29, 2009
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