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KAMPALA - Refugees living in Uganda are to get more assistance in terms of food from USAID’s $11m (about shillings 41.9 billion) funding that has been channeled through the World Food Program (WFP).

In a statement released on Friday, April 19, 2024, the additional funding brings USAID’s total support for refugees in Uganda to nearly $83 million since the beginning of 2023.

The money will mainly be used to purchase food items for over 1.3 million refugees across 13 settlements in Uganda.

“This contribution is undoubtedly a relief for the most vulnerable households in the refugee settlements,” Abdirahman Meygag, WFP’s Country Director in Uganda, said.

From the start of 2024, an additional 40,000 refugees have been registered in Uganda mostly women, children, and older persons from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.

In 2023 alone, 130,000 new refugees were registered; since 2014, the number of refugees in Uganda has increased from 390,000 to 1.6 million, making Uganda a country with the highest number of refugees in Africa. Of the 1.6 million refugees in Uganda, WFP supports 1.3 million in Uganda with monthly food and cash assistance.

Although there is a progressive asylum refugee support policy, refugees in Uganda have limited livelihood opportunities to sustain themselves and continue to depend on humanitarian assistance.

“As the largest humanitarian partner in Uganda, we are committed to supporting refugees in Uganda through emergency food assistance,” Daniele Nyirandutiye, USAID Mission Director in Uganda added.