Aid getting to Libya, but prospects grim

CAIRO, April 26 (UPI) -- Though food assistance is reaching vulnerable populations in Libya, challenges will escalate the longer the conflict drags on, the World Food Program said.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi recently opened humanitarian corridors in the country more than a month after international forces attacked the country under a U.N. mandate.

The U.N. World Food Program announced that one of its chartered ships delivered more than 500 tons of food assistance, three ambulances and other relief items on behalf of its partners in Misurata.

Last week, WFP said it delivered enough food aid to Libya to feed around 23,000 people for about a month. The first convoy crossed the Tunisian border to deliver wheat flour and other emergency food supplies April 17.

The aid agency said its food aid was reaching more than 200,000 people in Libya.

WFP said in a statement it was concerned that people in areas affected by heavy fighting weren't getting access to food supplies.

"WFP is also concerned about food security and the future of the public food distribution system in Libya as food stocks in the country are being consumed without replenishment," the agency said. "The longer the conflict lasts, the more likely that the number of those in need of food assistance will increase."