Funding shortfall puts WFP operations in Chad at risk
Funding constraints and rising humanitarian needs could force the World Food Programme (WFP) to halt assistance to more than a million people in Chad, including newly arrived refugees from Sudan, the UN agency said on Tuesday.
Funding constraints and rising humanitarian needs could force the World Food Programme (WFP) to halt assistance to more than a million people in Chad, including newly arrived refugees from Sudan, the UN agency said on Tuesday.
The warning comes as aid agencies scramble to respond to a fresh wave of displacement sparked by the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Darfur region of Sudan, with reports of mass killings, rapes and widespread destruction.
The crisis is occurring amid the ongoing war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which erupted in April.
Millions going hungry
More than 2.3 million people in Chad, including 1.3 million children, were already going hungry due to climate impacts, rising food and fuel prices, declining agricultural production and intercommunal tensions.
The country is hosting more than a million refugees - among the largest and fastest-growing refugee populations in Africa.
“It is staggering but more Darfuris have fled to Chad in the last six months than in the preceding 20 years. We cannot let the world stand and allow our life-saving operations grind to a halt in Chad,” said Pierre Honnorat, WFP’s Country Director in Chad.
Aid suspension imminent
Mr. Honnorat appealed for greater support to help Sudanese refugees who “cross the border with nothing but harrowing tales of violence.”
“Cutting assistance paves the way for crises of nutrition, crises of instability, and crisis of displacement,” he warned.
WFP said it will be forced to suspend assistance to internally displaced people and refugees from Nigeria, Central African Republic and Cameroon starting in December.
The suspension will be extended in January to 1.4 million people across the country, including new arrivals from Sudan.
The UN agency is seeking $185 million to support its operations over the next six months.
© UN News (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: UN News
Where next?
Browse related news topics:
Read the latest news stories:
- Ocean Action on Global Agenda as Negotiations to Save Biodiversity Deepen Wednesday, May 15, 2024
- Educating the Mind Without Educating the Heart is No Education at All Tuesday, May 14, 2024
- SBSTTA and SBIBiodiversity Meetings Crucial for the Global South Begin Tuesday, May 14, 2024
- World News in Brief: Arson at UNRWA’s East Jerusalem office, UN probe on staff member’s death in Gaza, food insecurity in South Sudan Tuesday, May 14, 2024
- UN forum in Bahrain: Innovation as the key to solving global problems Tuesday, May 14, 2024
- ICC Prosecutor outlines roadmap to complete Libya war crimes probe Tuesday, May 14, 2024
- Security Council hears of relentless attacks against civilians and infrastructure in Ukraine Tuesday, May 14, 2024
- Record 75.9 million internally displaced in 2023, UN report reveals Tuesday, May 14, 2024
- UN envoy decries continued political stalemate in Libya Tuesday, May 14, 2024
- Guterres deplores Rafah escalation Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Learn more about the related issues: