DAKAR (Reuters) -The U.N. World Food Programme said on Wednesday it had suspended flights to the northwestern Burkina Faso town of Solle after an explosion near a helicopter it chartered injured a crew member and a government official.
The WFP is trying to reach more than 300,000 people during the West African nation’s lean season, which runs from June to August and in which “families’ food stocks are exhausted,” a spokesperson for the U.N. agency said.
The blast occurred shortly after the helicopter landed in Solle on Tuesday and was being investigated, the spokesperson said. The injured were receiving medical care and the helicopter, though lightly damaged, had been “safely relocated”.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
“WFP calls on all parties to adhere to their obligations under International Humanitarian Law, including the protection of aid workers and humanitarian assets,” the spokesperson said.
Burkina Faso is run by a military government that took power after two coups in 2022, vowing to make progress against a violent insurgency waged by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State that began in neighbouring Mali in 2012 and has spread to other countries.
But deadly militant attacks persist in much of the country.
A WFP helicopter transporting food assistance to the northern town of Djibo came under attack in August 2023, though no passengers and crew were injured in that incident.
(Reporting by Burkina Faso newsroomAdditional reporting and writing by Ayen Deng BiorEditing by Robbie Corey-Boulet, Alexandra Hudson)
