The World Food Programme said Wednesday that it has signed a new food aid deal to allow the UN agency to provide 350,000 tonnes of grain to millions in the strife-torn country.

`The agreement is part of our long-standing partnership with the goverment of Zimbabwe. It runs until April 2010,` said WFP spokesman Richard Lee.

The World Food Programme said Wednesday that it has signed a new food aid deal to allow the UN agency to provide 350,000 tonnes of grain to millions in the strife-torn country.

`The agreement is part of our long-standing partnership with the goverment of Zimbabwe. It runs until April 2010,` said WFP spokesman Richard Lee.

BANGKOK, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) on Thursday made a global appeal for funding its operations in Myanmar, which is under international pressure over the junta's bloody crackdown on dissent.

Tony Banbury, WFP's regional director for Asia, said 10 percent of Myanmar's 52 million people do not have enough food, adding that a lack of money and the junta's restrictive policies were only 'making things worse.'

BANGKOK, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - Myanmar's bloody crackdown on protesters has hampered efforts to distribute food to 500,000 vulnerable people, mostly children, the World Food Programme (WFP) said Saturday.

'We appeal to the authorities for access to all parts of the country,' the UN food agency's executive director Josette Sheeran said in a statement from New York.

The junta's offensive against protesters in Yangon has left at least 13 people dead and hundreds more jailed, sparking global outrage against the country's ruling generals.

COLOMBO, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - The UN food agency Friday launched an urgent appeal for more money to feed thousands of people displaced by fighting between Sri Lanka Lankan troops and Tamil rebels.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said it was short of eight million dollars to provide relief to thousands displaced by the conflict.

'I am concerned about our resourcing situations as we will be running out of food in November,' said Jean-Yves Lequime, acting country director of the World Food Programme in Colombo.

KABUL, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - Saudi Arabia has given two million dollars of dates to supplement the diet of Afghan children who lack proper nutrition because of insecurity and disasters, the World Food Programme said Wednesday.

The 2,000 tons of dates will be given to given to children at primary schools, WFP said in a statement.

Insecurity and natural disasters such as drought and floods 'have had a severe impact on the basic nutritional needs of millions of poor people, especially Afghan children,' it said.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept 9, 2007 (AFP) - A group of Taliban on motorbikes ambushed a World Food Programme convoy in Afghanistan, sparking a gunfight that left 13 militants and two police dead, a provincial governor said Sunday.

The convoy, escorted by highway police, was attacked on Saturday in the remote western province of Farah by rebel fighters on motorbikes and in station wagons, the governor of neighbouring Nimroz province said.

The fighting lasted the whole day and the police had to send reinforcements, governor Ghulam Dastageer Azad told AFP.

HARARE, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - The number of people facing serious food shortages in Zimbabwe is expected to grow to 4.1 million over the first quarter of next year, the Canadian ambassador to the African country said on Wednesday.

HARARE, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - The number of people facing serious food shortages in Zimbabwe is expected to grow to 4.1 million over the first quarter of next year, the Canadian ambassador to the African country said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - The United States said Tuesday it was considering providing aid to North Korea following floods in the nuclear-armed state which reportedly left hundreds dead or missing and tens of thousands of homes destroyed.

'If there is a humanitarian need we would take a look to see if we could help out in some way,' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, pointing out that any aid would be channeled through the United Nations.

GENEVA, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - North Korea has asked the UN's food relief agency for help in the wake of 'massive' floods, a spokesman for the World Food Programme said Tuesday.

North Korean authorities said the floods are worse than those that reportedly left hundreds dead or missing and tens of thousands homeless in central and southern regions last year, WFP spokesman Simon Pluess told AFP.

'Pyongyang has made a preliminary request for the WFP's assistance,' Pluess said.