Severe Food Shortages Hit Africa’s Refugees Hard – UNHCR and WFP Warn

This could affect some 2 million lives across Africa.

ROME – The Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, are very concerned that critical shortages in food assistance are affecting some 2 million refugees in 10 countries across Africa.

The shortages could worsen in coming months without new resources to meet food needs. The number of refugees in Africa nearly doubled from 2.6 million in 2011 to nearly 5 million in 2016. While donor funding for refugee assistance increased during this period, it did not keep pace with rapidly rising needs. As a result, the humanitarian response is significantly underfunded. This has forced cuts in food assistance for some groups of refugees.

Image: UN Photo/Isaac Billy. 01 September 2015. Western Equatoria, South Sudan

Over 100 foreign asylum seekers living in Protection of Civilian sites (POCs) in Juba arrive in Makpandu, Western Equatoria State. Their relocation is part of an interagency strategy at finding long-term solutions for over 500 foreign nationals who moved to the POCs when conflict broke in December 2013. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) together with South Sudan’s Commission for Refugee Affairs (CRA), International Organization for Migration (IOM) and other agencies assisted in the relocation. 
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