Trend news agency,
10, August 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend S.Agayeva / The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed the first-ever donation from the Russian Federation to support WFP's operation in Azerbaijan to provide food assistance to the poorest among the internally displaced people (IDPs).

"This US$2 million donation from Russia to Azerbaijan will enable us to continue food assistance to the most vulnerable amongst those displaced by the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh," said Lynne Miller, WFP's Country Director in Azerbaijan in the press release provided by UN Baku Office on 10 August.

The Russian donation will help procure wheat flour and vegetable oil for the displaced over the coming four months. Since 2003, when the Russian Federation joined WFP's growing list of generous donors, it has provided US$44 million worth of assistance to WFP efforts around the world. So far this year, Russia has contributed US$11 million to WFP, for operations allocated to Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cuba and Tajikistan.

WFP began operations in Azerbaijan in 1994 to help over half a million people displaced by the conflict. Gradually a large number of them moved to urban areas and became self-reliant. WFP has since shifted its attention to assisting those who remained in rural areas and are still unable to meet their basic needs.

The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh has led to the displacement of 800,000 Azerbaijanis in the 1990s. WFP's current two-year operation in Azerbaijan assists 154,000 of them. "The displaced people we are assisting are still unable to afford their basic needs. They still rely on continued humanitarian support," said Miller.

WFP's current operation, which extends to mid-2008, has a total cost of US$15.9 million and is currently facing a 38% shortfall in funding. Donors to the current WFP's operation in Azerbaijan includes Azerbaijan (US$ 3 million), the Russian Federation (US$2 million), Japan (US$100,000) and private donors (US$69,000) as well as multilateral donation (US$ 4 million).