The Rwandan Refugee Crisis in Tanzania: Initial Successes and Failures in Food Assistance

The objective of this paper is to provide RRN members with an account of the food assistance operations in Benaco camp during the two months following the initial influx, giving a preliminary assessment of the factors contributing to the comparative success of the initial operation and also to examine the issues from the Benaco experience which are pertinent to other situations. Inevitably substantial difficulties were encountered during the operation and the paper discusses two of the principal difficulties, notably those resulting from a lack of accurate information on the camp population and the relationship between the two key UN agencies; WFP (responsible for the supply of the general ration to RRN the camp) and UNHCR (responsible for coordinating the distribution of the food within the camp).