The United Nations and Ethiopian authorities on Tuesday (August 9th) appealed for $73 million to provide food rations to more than 750,000 refugees in Ethiopia over the next six months, reports the UN website. .
Indeed, aid agencies will be completely out of food for the refugees by next October.
The UN World Food Program (WFP), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Ethiopian government’s Refugee and Returnee Service have warned that the funding shortfall risks leaving families vulnerable dependent on food aid at risk of undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, susceptibility to disease/infection and increased protection risks.
“We are grateful for what donors have provided so far, but additional funds are needed and urgently,” said Margaret Atieno, UNHCR Deputy Representative in Ethiopia.
She explained that « the continued lack of full rations for refugees, coupled with the impact of the most severe drought the country has seen in over 40 years, is likely to impact the peaceful coexistence between refugees and their host communities ».
According to the UN, “85% of refugees in Ethiopia depend entirely on monthly food rations from the WFP”, and the lack of funding is leading ipso facto to considerable cuts.
WFP has already been forced to cut rations for 750,000 registered refugees living in 22 camps and five sites in host communities in Ethiopia’s Afar, Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella, Somali and of Tigray, it is specified.
The same UN agency recalls that food rations for refugees in Ethiopia were reduced for the first time by 16% in November 2015, 40% in November 2021 and 50% in June 2022.
Ethiopia hosts more than one million refugees and asylum seekers. Most of them are from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan.
By OMA Newsletter N° 814 of 09/08/2022
Article published under the direction of Dr. Najib Kettani
The OMA, NGO with an Intercontinental vocation
For the development of cultural exchanges
Valuing human potential
The promotion and consolidation of Africa’s development, and
Inter-African integration
