China gives US$6m for food
Print Edition
CHINA has donated US$6 million to help stave off food shortages in the three African countries worst affected by the Ebola virus, the World Food Program said yesterday, part of Beijing’s growing assistance to a continent where its companies have become major investors.
WFP China representative Brett Rierson said the money is being spent on one month of emergency rations of mainly rice, lentils and yellow peas for 300,000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The Ebola outbreak in those countries has not only killed more than half the people infected but also led to widespread transport disruptions, higher food prices and the abandonment of crops and livestock by some farmers fleeing to areas considered safe.
The WFP has raised US$59 million of a US$179 million appeal for emergency Ebola food aid, with the US contributing US$8.8 million and Japan US$6 million.
Altogether, donors have given nearly US$400 million to UN agencies and aid groups, still far from the US$988 million requested.
China has already sent several planeloads of medical material and aid teams to the three worst affected countries, and at least one Chinese pharmaceutical firm is among those working on a vaccine.
With the world’s second-largest economy and a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, China is beginning to make larger contributions to international aid efforts.
China now spends about US$5 billion annually in foreign aid, about 55 percent of which is offered in the form of low-interest loans. Just over half the money goes to African countries.
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