Sri Lanka: WFP convoy departs for Vanni

COLOMBO, 3 November 2008: The United Nations says that it has dispatched another major food convoy into the Vanni region of northern Sri Lanka. The 29 truck World Food Programme convoy carrying 438 metric tons of food is part of a continuing humanitarian aid effort to reach the estimated 230,000 civilians displaced behind the lines of confrontation in the districts of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu. This is the fourth UN convoy since the UN was forced to temporarily withdraw from the Vanni in mid-September due to fighting. The convoy will deliver food to three locations before returning to government-controlled territory tomorrow. The UN says that it has delivered 2,300 metric tons of food to the Vanni since the beginning of October.