Uganda and the World Food Programme rolled out special license plates for humanitarian trucks and signed off on turning Kampala into a continental emergency supply hub. Foreign Affairs Minister Jeje Odongo and Works Minister Edward Katumba Wamala showed up for the handover ceremony with UN reps, and they talked up how Uganda already hosts the biggest refugee population in Africa. WFP Country Director Marcus Prior said the hub will work as a rapid-response center when conflicts or disasters hit anywhere on the continent.
The plates let aid vehicles skip the usual border registration headaches when crossing into other countries, and the agreement kills off regulatory barriers that slow down emergency shipments. WFP moved over 173,000 metric tons of food to more than 2 million people across Uganda last year, and they also sent 33,000 metric tons to five neighboring countries.
The new hub is supposed to make response times way faster and expand regional reach for disaster relief operations across Africa.
The plates let aid vehicles skip the usual border registration headaches when crossing into other countries, and the agreement kills off regulatory barriers that slow down emergency shipments. WFP moved over 173,000 metric tons of food to more than 2 million people across Uganda last year, and they also sent 33,000 metric tons to five neighboring countries.
The new hub is supposed to make response times way faster and expand regional reach for disaster relief operations across Africa.
