Dwindling food stocks and a shortfall in donor funding have forced the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to cut rations for more than 700.000 Liberians for the second time in two months, a senior WFP official said Monday.
WFP is now distributing just 70 percent of the normal food ration and further cuts are likely unless donors come up with more cash quickly, Maarit Hirvonen, the acting head of WFP in Liberia told IRIN.
– We started the reduction of the calories last month from 2.100 to 1.700. And this month it was cut down to 1.500 per person, Hirvonen said adding: – This serious problem of resources can be attributed to the… competing interests and priorities like the issues in Darfur, Sudan.
Nearly a quarter of Liberias three million population receives food aid following 14 years of civil war. And many more mouths will have to be fed once the UN refugee agency UNHCR starts to repatriate app. 300.000 Liberian refugees from neighbouring countries in October.
But since the Liberian conflict ended 12 months ago and UN peacekeeping forces brought improved security to the interior, the country has dropped off the donors radar screen.
Almost 740.000 people, including demobilised ex-fighters, newly-returned refugees, internally displaced people (IDP) and school children, have been affected by the cut in monthly rations.
Hirvonen warned that further cuts could follow if donors failed to stump up 12 million US dollar rapidly to buy a further 20.000 tonnes of food to see Liberia through to the end of this year.
– To avoid even deeper cuts in food rations, even with immediate contributions, we will need to work rapidly and turn donations into food supplies quickly, she said adding: – Some European Union countries have pledged seven million euros for food assistance, but the realisation of such pledges could take several months.
– There are plans underway to deviate a limited food stock from WFP in neighbouring Cote DIvoire (Elfenbenskysten). Like pulses, maize meal and vegetable oil to help ease the grave food aid for Liberia. This could arrive by the end of September, added Hirvonen.
Kilde: FN-bureauet IRINnews
