The United Nations’ food relief agency  has resumed its assistance to  Somalia following the recovery of relative peace,The UN announced on Tuesday.

In a news release announcing its return to the area, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said  that it was providing hot meals to 15,000 locals  in Somalia at three separate feeding centres while also distributing specialized nutritional support to some 5,000 expectant mothers and children under the age of five.

The distribution of cooked food, said the agency, was presumed to be a safer option than supplying dry rations, which are vulnerable to thieves.

WFP spokesperson , Susannah Nicol confirmed on the UN Radio  on Tuesday that  the agency was confronting food insecurity in Somalia’s City of Kismayo through a two-pronged, targeted approach – providing hot meals as well as distributing nutritional support.

WFP is currently training local partners to assist it with re-launching its food assistance programmes in the city, while a ship has been dispatched to the area with over 1,100 metric tons of food.

According to the news release, that would be enough to maintain the hot meal programme for an initial period of three months and the nutrition programmes for six weeks.

“It is extremely important that we are again able to work in Kismayo, as our recent rapid food security and nutrition assessment found there is great need,” Stefano Porretti, the WFP Representative in Somalia, said.

By UP