A World Food Programme humanitarian vessel carrying life-saving food, medical supplies, doctors and other relief items reached Misrata port Friday, 8 April, 2011, opening up a new humanitarian lifeline to civilians trapped in the Libyan conflict.

The vessel was carrying more than 600 metric tons of WFP food including wheat flour, vegetable oil and high energy biscuits, enough to feed more than 40,000 people for a month. It also delivered medical supplies on behalf of UNICEF and the World Health Organization.

The UNICEF and WHO emergency health kits and surgical material will cover the urgent needs for 50,000 people for a month. Other materials will enable thousands of children to play in the relative safety of indoors. Two doctors are on board and will disembark at Misrata.

Speaking from Alexandria, Egypt on Tuesday 12 April, World Food Programme ship Captain Andreas Krossa said the refugees didn't believe the entire ship of cargo was for them.

"When they saw all this cargo they asked me 'is this all for us?' Like they don't believe they would get a full cargo, a full ship."

 - Andreas Krossa, Captain, World Food Programme ship

"They need the basic stuff, they need flour, they need water; they just need really basic necessities, because they don’t have anything."

 - Mohammed Fortia, Student

WFP began moving food supplies into Libya soon after the conflict erupted and has pre-positioned more than 17,000 metric tons of food stocks inside the country and across the region, as part of a US$42 million emergency operation that will provide food assistance to more than one million people in Libya and neighbouring countries.

Working with partners such as the Libyan Red Crescent, WFP plans to provide food to more than 600,000 people inside Libya over the next three months.

"Many things are expired, you know, like children's things; the main thing is we haven't eaten meat for a long time because all the sheep and the cows have died from thirst, nobody's giving them water."

 - Doctor Fortia

"Obviously, everyone wants to go back to their home town to their home country. This is my last year and I'll be graduating and all my teachers-because I have been studying at the international school in Tripoli, all my teachers have left and everything so I don’t even know if I am going to graduate this year."

 - Mohammed and Yousef Fortia, Students

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, almost 500,000 people have fled Libya since mid-February, including some 200,000 to Egypt, 236,000 to Tunisia, more than 36,000 to Niger, about 14,000 to Algeria, 6,200 to Chad and 2,800 to Sudan.

Courtesy: United Nations & World Food Programme