383.000 flygtninge i Uganda er afhængige af madrationer fra Verdensfødevareprogrammet (WFP). De mange flygtninge fra borgerkrigen i Sydsudan presser organisationen og der er nu ikke mere råd til de sædvanlige rationer.
Transitcenter for flygtninge fra Demokratiske Republik Congo uden for Kisoro i det sydvestlige Uganda. (Foto: Adam Jones/Creative Commons)
KAMPALA, 27 January 2015 (WFP): Almost 150,000 refugees living in Uganda are receiving from Tuesday reduced rations from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) as a result of insufficient funding.
The ration cut of 50 percent came as WFP struggles to raise an additional 30 million US dollar (180 mio. DKR) for its operations in Uganda for the next six months.
Those affected are people who arrived in Uganda before July 2013 – nearly half of all refugees receiving WFP food assistance in Uganda.
Gælder ikke for de nye flygtninge
It does not include 138,000 refugees who fled South Sudan since fighting broke out there in December 2013.
Also exempt are extremely vulnerable individuals identified by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
Without the reduction, WFP would run out of food stocks for all refugees in Uganda from April. The last time the amount of food given to refugees in Uganda was cut was January to March last year.
Nedskæringen er sidste udvej
“Reducing rations is a last resort to ensure we can continue providing life-saving support for the most vulnerable refugees,” said WFP Country Director, Alice Martin-Daihirou.
“We urgently need more funding to restore full assistance to people in Uganda who have no means to feed themselves.”
If WFP fails to receive substantial contributions in the coming months, the cuts could last for the next six months or longer and possibly even affect the new South Sudanese refugees.
Refugees have been notified through information sessions supported by UNHCR, WFP and the government.
Flygtninge har fået marker – men dårlig høst
Tuesday’s announcement came at a particularly vulnerable time for refugees in Uganda.
Under a government scheme, refugees are allocated plots of land to build a shelter and grow food.
However, an assessment in late 2014 by the Government, WFP, UNHCR and UNICEF found that more than half of all refugee families due to be affected by the ration cuts had a poor harvest.
With the cuts factored in, there is a high risk that these refugees will experience stress in the first quarter of 2015 as their food stocks run low.
Flygtninge fra Sydsudan øger presset
WFP requires 7.6 million dollar each month to support an estimated 383,000 refugees this year. The influx of South Sudanese refugees in the last 13 months has tripled the monthly funding requirement.
In 2014, WFP received support from (in alphabetical order) the European Commission, France, Japan, the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the UK, the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund and the US.
