Published on 14.01.2023 at 10:18 by APA
The government’s measure concerns three Chinook helicopters, newly acquired by the World Food Program (WFP). The authorities of the Transition suspended, on Wednesday January 11, 2023, the flights of humanitarian planes, recently acquired by the UN agency, a learned APA from aid workers.
They explained that the World Food Program (WFP) has acquired three new Chinook cargo ships, to increase its capacity to supply food to towns under blockade by jihadist groups.
“Helicopters are big carriers. They have a capacity of eight tons, a quantity that was conveyed in three deliveries,” said a source. She added that on Monday, January 9, one of these aircraft delivered 24 tons of food in just four rotations to Djibo, in the north of the country.
The concerns of the Burkinabè authorities
According to a source at the Ministry of Humanitarian Action who requested anonymity, “the authorities want to be sure that these Chinooks are limited to their role of humanitarian cargo”, stressing that the government has opposed these helicopters continuing their rotations.
Less than a month after the expulsion of the Coordinator of the United Nations system in Ouagadougou, Barbara Manzi, this is a new incident between Burkina and the UN agencies even if the two parties told APA that ” things are getting back to normal”.
The country is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, resulting from the security situation. Several localities, under jihadist blockade, are regularly supplied by air. Nearly two million people are displaced due to the abuses of jihadist groups.