In a bid to improve delivery of food aid to Somali refugee camps in Ethiopia, the World Food Program has started a helicopter service linking camps in Dolo Ado and the town of Gode, which is located in Ethiopia’s Somali region.
The single-aircraft service, which is financed by the European Commission’s humanitarian aid department, or ECHO, will fly for the next two weeks to deliver food aid to Dolo Ado, where heavy rains and a flooded airstrip have prevented the fixed-wing aircraft of the regular U.N. Humanitarian Air Service from landing. Over the past weeks, aid workers have had to make a two-day drive from Addis Ababa as road conditions permit to deliver food aid to the refugee camps in Dolo Ado.
WFP said it also plans to use the helicopter to organize medical evacuations when needed.
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