ADDIS ABABA
\nThe World Food Programme is on the brink of suspending food aid for millions of refugees in Ethiopia due to cuts in international aid, the UN agency said on Friday.
\nEthiopia, Africa\u2019s second most populous country, hosts many refugees from neighboring Sudan and South Sudan, and also has internally displaced residents fleeing internal conflicts.
\nThe director of the program (WFP) in Ethiopia, Zlatan Milisic, said it needed to raise about $230 million to sustain humanitarian operations for the next six months.
\n\u201cWithout immediate new funding, WFP could be forced to completely suspend food assistance for all refugees in Ethiopia in the coming months,\u201d he said in a statement.
\nReductions in foreign humanitarian aid by the United States and other Western countries this year have worsened funding issues in many developing countries.
\nWFP said this month it was forced to cut food rations for 780,000 refugees in 27 camps across Ethiopia.
\n\u201cWe are making impossible choices,\u201d Milisic said.
\n\u201cThese reductions are just another step toward stopping food distributions completely, putting the lives of those we currently assist at risk.\u201d
\nAccording to the agency, the latest cuts mean refugees are now receiving fewer than 1,000 calories a day in food aid \u2014 less than half the recommended 2,100 daily intake.
\nEthiopia is receiving a surge of refugees from neighboring Sudan, gripped by civil war since April 2023, and South Sudan, long troubled by instability.
\nThe Horn of African nation is also facing internal conflicts, particularly in its two most populous regions, which have displaced tens of thousands of people.
\n\u201cEvery ration cut is a child left hungrier, a mother forced to skip meals, a family pushed closer to the edge,\u201d Milisic said.
\nIn April, WFP said it had halted aid for 650,000 malnourished women and children in Ethiopia.
\nFrom January to October, it provided life-saving assistance to 4.7 million vulnerable people across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ADDIS ABABA The World Food Programme is on the brink of suspending food aid for millions of refugees in Ethiopia due to cuts in international aid, the UN agency said on Friday. Ethiopia, Africa\u2019s second most populous country, hosts many refugees from neighboring Sudan and South Sudan, and also has internally displaced residents fleeing internal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507952,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-507930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n