WFP halves food rations to 400,000 refugees in Kenya

What you need to know:

  • The 434,000 refugees in Kakuma, Dadaab and the new Kalobeyei camps are also at the risk of starvation from February 2017 unless the UN body receives more funding.

  • WFP Country Director for Kenya Annalisa Conte on Tuesday appealed for close to $14 million in emergency funding to avert the looming crisis.

  • Usually WFP provides the refugees with a food basket containing cereals, pulses, vegetable oil, and nutrient-enriched flour.

  • While the amounts disbursed to refugees have not been slashed, Ms Conte said, WFP is expected to run out of cash by the end of January.
  • Apart from the basic food rations, WFP also provides fortified foods to young children, pregnant women and nursing mothers, to stave off malnutrition.

The World Food Programme has halved monthly food rations for over 400,000 refugees in Kenya over what it says is a “severe funding shortage”.

The 434,000 refugees in the Kakuma, Dadaab and the new Kalobeyei camps are also at risk of starvation from February 2017 unless the UN body receives more funding.

WFP Country Director for Kenya Annalisa Conte on Tuesday appealed for close to $14 million in emergency funding to avert the looming crisis.

$13.7 MILLION

“We are appealing to donors to quickly come to the aid of the refugees, who rely on WFP food assistance for survival,” she said in a statement.

“WFP immediately requires $13.7 million (Ksh1.4 billion) to cover the food and cash needs for the refugees between December and April,” she added.

Usually the WFP provides the refugees with a food basket containing cereals, pulses, vegetable oil, and nutrient-enriched flour.

It also gives them cash equivalent to a third of their minimum food requirements to allow them to buy fresh produce from local markets.

CHILDREN AT RISK

While the amounts disbursed to refugees have not been slashed, Ms Conte said, the WFP is expected to run out of cash by the end of January.

“If WFP is forced to discontinue cash transfers, it would have a particularly devastating effect on 7,500 refugees in the newly established Kalobeyei settlement, who receive almost all their food assistance in the form of cash and could thus be left with no food assistance whatsoever,” the director said.

Apart from the basic food rations, the WFP also provides fortified foods to young children, pregnant women and nursing mothers, to stave off malnutrition.

US CONSIGNMENT

Primary school pupils receive porridge in school to allow them to concentrate in class.

Ms Conte said the next consignment of relief food is expected in May 2017 from the US at the cost of Sh2.2 billion and appealed to other donors to help plug the shortage before then.

“Without an urgent response from other donors, we will completely run out of food for more than 400,000 people in Dadaab and Kakuma at the end of February," she said.

Even as the WFP raises the fear of starvation due to donor funding, the Kenyan government has already started repatriating refugees from the two camps to their homes in Somalia.

REPATRIATION

The government remains adamant and has vowed not to back down in its push to close the camps, claiming they act as breeding grounds for terrorists who have been massacring its citizens.

Nairobi’s move comes amid international pressure from humanitarian bodies, which have fought terrorism claims and urged Kenya to carry out the repatriation in a humane way.

The terrorists have attacked police and civilians in the north, where the camps are located, with the biggest attack being against Garissa University College, where 148 people, most of them students, lost their lives.