WFP to reduce food rations for refugees in Kenya

October 7, 2017 (JUBA) – The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) says it will cut food rations for refugees currently living in Kenyan camps due it insufficient funds.

The UN agency, in a statement, said it is facing a critical shortage of resources which has prompted it to reduce the amount of food given to the refugees only six months after it resumed full rations.

The food ration, the agency said, would be cut by 30 percent.

The WFP Representative and Country Director in Kenya, Annalisa Conte, said the agency urgently needs $28.5 million to adequately cover the food assistance needed for the next six months.

Overall, refugees living in Dadaab and Kakuma camps will receive a food ration equivalent to 70 percent of their requirements, said WFP.

Also, WFP said it will not provide fortified flour to the general population as the low stocks remaining will be prioritized for pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers through health clinics.

Over 2 million people have fled South Sudan since conflict erupted in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir sacked Riek Machar from the vice-presidency. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in South Sudan’s worst violence since it seceded from Sudan in July 2011

(ST)