Donors appeal for food aid for South Sudan refugees

Aug 17, 2016

They are require approximately sh23b ($7m) every month to provide life-saving food assistance to refugees in Uganda

Local and internationals donors have called for urgent and speedy contributions to the humanitarian response to refugees in Uganda to end a funding shortage that has forced a revision of survival rations.

The call comes after the Government of Uganda, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Uganda Red Cross society and World Food Programme (WFP) have been forced to cut by half food rations for refugees amidst funding crisis.

The humanitarian response to South Sudanese refugees in Uganda was already severely underfunded before the outbreak of violence in Juba on July 8, which has since prompted more than 70,000 people to cross the border into Uganda.

In a joint statement released on Tuesday the Government through the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), UNHCR and (WFP) said inadequate food supply, water shortage and poor sanitation has hit refugee sites in the northern Uganda.

Mike Sackett, WFP's acting Country Director for Uganda said they require approximately sh23B ($7m) every month to provide life-saving food assistance to refugees in Uganda.

"Despite the generous support of donors, the humanitarian response requires an additional sh66B ($20m) to restore full food rations to refugees for the rest of the year," he said.

"We have done everything we can to avoid this, but we have been left with no option but to reduce food assistance for many of the refugees in Uganda, in order to stretch available resources and prioritize the most vulnerable new arrivals," Sackett added.

He said that they were working hard can to raise the resources needed to restore the full level of food assistance for as many refugees as possible.

The acting UNHCR Representative to Uganda Bornwell Kantande said there has never been a gap between what is being provided and what is needed adding that they thank the donors for their continued generosity and support.

"We urge the donors for more fund to humanitarian organizations in order to continue providing refugees with the life-saving assistance they critically need," Kantande said

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