The first food convoy for 2009 - dispatched by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in cooperation with the Government delivered mixed food commodities to the Vanni region, the WFP announced yesterday.

It said the convoy, comprising 57 trucks and seven light vehicles, delivered 811 metric tons of food (enough to feed nearly 230,000 persons for a week) to Puthukkudiyiruppu. This was the tenth convoy to the region since UN humanitarian convoys began delivering food in October 2008.

The WFP in cooperation with the Government and other stakeholders has dispatched a total of 6,617 metric tons of mixed food

commodities to the Vanni region since the beginning of the food operation. The WFP had also procured 781 metric tons of rice within the region for distribution to the IDPs.

The WFP is providing food assistance to 1.1 million Sri Lankans, including IDPs, school children, pregnant and nursing mothers, infants and other people affected by the conflict, it claimed.