The cash-strapped U.N. Humanitarian Air Service in Chad has been given a last minute reprieve thanks to a $1 million donation from the U.S. Government. Without this donation, the U.N. World Food Program says it would have been forced to ground much of the service on August 15, leaving hundreds of thousands of people with no access to aid from humanitarian organizations.

 

The World Food Program says the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service would have been cut in half had this money not come through. WFP Spokeswoman, Emilia Cassela says the $1 million donation from the U.S. Government will keep the service in Chad going for another 30 days.

 

But, she warns it will shut down by 50 percent in mid-September if no other donors are found within the next 30 days. And, the rest of the service will have to close by the end of the month.

 

“So, that would be affecting up to 5,000 humanitarian passengers a month and, as we have already been talking about, hundreds of thousands of people in Chad who will be affected because their humanitarian workers will have a lot of difficulty getting out to the field to see them,” Cassela said. “And, we are talking about deep field locations that people will not be able to get to.”Â