The UN World Food Program (WFP) said on Thursday that the agency's contracted trucks convoy thrust out of Mogadishu and delivered enough food to feed at least 32,000 people driven from their homes by some of the worst fighting in the Somali capital in 16 years.

In a statement issued in Nairobi, the WFP said the nine-truck convoy drove west of Mogadishu and unloaded a total of 320 metric tons of food at six sites where tens of thousands of displaced people are sheltering on roadsides. WFP's non-governmental organization partners immediately began distributing the food to hungry families.

"WFP is now ready to reach some of the people living in terrible conditions after escaping from Mogadishu," said WFP Country Director Peter Goossens.

"I hope that this means humanitarian assistance can now urgently be brought to all those in need," Goossens added.

The UN agency said the distributions got the green light from the transitional government during a meeting with UN officials on Monday.

The TFG said it would cooperate with efforts by UN agencies and NGOs to assist an estimated 340,000 people driven out of Mogadishu by fighting since the start of February.

"Many of these people fled for their lives with just about nothing and are living in very harsh conditions in heavy rain. They urgently need all our assistance now. With the fighting continuing in Mogadishu, they simply cannot return home," Goossens said.

The 320 tons of maize, nutritious corn-soya blend and vegetable oil, is enough to feed 32,000 people for two weeks.

But the exact number who received the WFP food would only be known after the distributions and might be greater if smaller rations were given out.

The latest development came as the United Nations warned this week of a looming humanitarian disaster in Somalia which has been without a central rule for over 16 years.

It said ongoing clashes have made it hard to deliver aid to the displaced. Most people lacked food and water and hundreds had already died from cholera and diarrhoea, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Eric Laroche said.

The UN agency assists more than a quarter of a million people each month in Somalia in areas where there are critical food shortages, but the fighting in Mogadishu, general insecurity, threats against its staff and other obstacles in recent weeks hampered deliveries to the newly displaced.

Source: Xinhua