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How many persons were reached by U.N. humanitarian
assistance in any form at any time? Each new United Nations
appeal noted an increase in the number of intended beneficiaries
but did not indicate how many persons had been reached
during the previous period. In the food sector, for example—
which the U.N. considered its signature contribution and
where the best data is available—the estimated percentages of
those reached varied from area to area.
In Slovenia, where conflict did not impede distribution,
the World Food Programme (WFP) calculated that it had
supplied food to the total target population of about 60,000
registered refugees. In war-ridden Bosnia and Herzegovina,
where in September 1993 there were 2.28 million people in
need of food, WFP estimated that it met about 70 percent of
food needs. That figure was expected to decrease during the
latter months of the year, reflecting a target population increase
to 2.74 million people, winter rations expanded from
535 to 610 grams per day, and more obstacles to deliveries.
In enclaves within Bosnia and Herzegovina, the percentages
of needs met were lower still. During the first nine
months of the year, as illustrated in Figure 2.2, U.N. food aid
met 52.4 percent of the needs of the civilian population in
Zepa, 42.9 percent in Srebrenica, and 26.4 percent in Goradze.
The percentages would have increased if food air-dropped by
NATO operations—roughly 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 tons to the
three enclaves during the same period—had been included.
Because of deteriorating security conditions, however, overland
food deliveries were expected to meet an even smaller
proportion of food needs in the final months of the year. The
percentages reached were inversely related to the numbers of
those in need, estimated in late 1993 at 10,000 in Zepa, 44,140
in Srebrenica, and 66,000 in Goradze.
The unusually low percentages of distribution in the enclaves
reflected how much the delivery of food was complicated
by the war. Fighting in eastern Bosnia between the
Bosnian army and Serbian forces throughout 1993 impeded
deliveries from the Dalmatian coast, Serbia, and outside the
region. The outbreak of fighting between the Bosnian army
and Croatian forces in central Bosnia in the spring of 1993 cut
the convoy routes from the coast, impeding food deliveries to
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