Roundup: UN agencies In Algeria appeal for continued food aid to Western Saharan refugees

The UN World Food Programme (WFP), together with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Children's fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday appealed for continued donor support for refugees from Western Sahara living in Algeria, saying that insufficient funding makes a cut in basic food rations imminent.

For more than 40 years, the Sahrawi refugees have been living under extremely harsh conditions in the Sahara desert in southwestern Algeria. Hosted in five camps close to the town of Tindouf, they remain heavily dependent on external humanitarian assistance.

WFP represents the most important source of food in the camps; any reduction or halt of WFP food assistance will have a severe impact on the food security and nutritional status of the refugees, especially young children, pregnant and nursing women, the elderly and the sick.

"At the recently adopted New York Declaration this month, states committed to providing additional and predictable humanitarian funding and development support for refugees," said UNHCR Representative in Algeria Hamdi Bukhari.

"We badly need this for our humanitarian activities in support of the Sahrawis," Bukhari said. "Chronic underfunding has affected the provision of health, shelter, food and water."

"In June last year, our three agencies warned about the lack of funding for food, and we are doing so again as food assistance is critical," the representative said.

At present, WFP faces a funding shortfall of 10 million U.S. dollars for the next six months. In October, WFP was forced to suspend part of its food assistance; from November, rations are likely to be reduced by half. Stocks have already been depleted to cover the last few months, and at least three staple products -- wheat flour, vegetable oil, and rice -- are running out.

WFP has informed donors, stakeholders and local partners, including the Algerian and Sahrawi Red Crescent, of possible cuts.

"Cost-cutting measures, such as the replacement of some commodities by cheaper ones, have so far allowed WFP to extend resources to cover requirements. However, if new funding is not available soon, WFP will be forced to reduce food rations," said WFP Representative Romain Sirois.

"This is bound to hurt the nutritional status of refugees," Sirois said.

Last month, WFP, UNHCR, UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) providing humanitarian assistance to Sahrawi refugees, appealed for funds to provide food, shelter, health and education in the camps.

The appeal was issued to donors in Algiers on Sept. 19, and will be re-issued soon at a donor meeting in Geneva.

"Sahrawi refugee children living in camps in Tindouf are highly dependent on food distributions, and anxiety among families about further reduction is high," said UNICEF Representative in Algeria Marc Lucet.

"Children's nutritional and health status could be at risk," Lucet said. 'Together with UN agencies working in the camps, we call upon donors to maintain their support to refugees so their basic humanitarian needs continue to be covered."

WFP has been supporting refugees from Western Sahara in Algeria since 1986. All WFP assistance in Algeria is carried out and monitored in collaboration with national and international organizations to make sure the assistance reaches the people for whom it is intended.

The Sahrawi crisis is the UN's oldest protracted operation and the second longest-running refugee situation worldwide.

Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony under dispute since 1975 between Morocco and the Polisario Front which proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) with a government-in-exile in Tindouf.

The Western Sahara has been on the UN list of non-self-governing territories since 1963. A UN-led process of negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario is lagging behind.

Morocco says it is ready to grant autonomy rule to Sahrawi people, while the Algeria-backed Polisario demands to hold a self-determination referendum.

The lasting diplomatic coldness between Algiers and Rabat is mostly provoked by the disagreement between the two nations over this issue. Enditem