All of the wereda DPP Committees visited reported experiencing severe logistical constraints in recruiting private transporters to transport the allocated food from the wereda warehouses to the affected kebelles. Some of the NGOs who still have some short haul transport capacity are lending trucks to minimize the logistical problem. The Logistics and Transport Coordination Department of the central DPPC has echoed the call for four wheel drive vehicles to assist in the transport operation, as there are insufficient vehicles in the private market in Soddo. Wereda DPP Committees also complained that because they are not receiving enough food to provide to the needy, they are forced to split the total number of people in need in half, and to distribute rations on an alternating basis. Beneficiaries therefore are receiving full rations only once every two months.
Reports indicate that the food shortage is increasing in severity.
The latest report from SCF-UK s Nutritional Surveillance Programme indicates a general decline in nutritional status. Currently, a team of Regional DPPB experts are in the field to monitor the changing situation concerning the most vulnerable groups of people who are in need of food assistance in all weredas in the Zone. They are expected to formulate new beneficiary figures as the situation dictates. 30 April 1997 UN-EUE Tel.