WFP warns of further food aid cuts to refugees in Uganda

The UN World Food Program (WFP) has warned that it may be forced to cut food aid to refugees in Uganda further than the current 50 percent cut in food rations due to severe funding shortage.

The food aid agency on Wednesday said it currently faces a funding shortfall of 57 million U.S. dollars from this month to April next year.

"We are facing a situation that if we don't receive considerable contributions within the month of November, we will be looking at making additional ration cuts in January," Cheryl Harrison, Deputy Country Director WFP Uganda told reporters.

She said WFP is at a critical time, faced with a growing influx of refugees especially from South Sudan and increasing needs and costs per month of its refugee operation.

The agency said its expenditure has risen to 12 million dollars per month from about seven million dollars in August.

It said 86 percent of the new refugees are women and children, with no means to access regular nutritious meals on their own.

According to the agency, the number of refugees that it has been supporting in Uganda since the beginning of 2016 has increased to 650,000. The number is expected to go higher due to the ongoing influx of South Sudan refugees into Uganda.

Since August this year, the WFP has cut food rations to refugees that arrived in Uganda prior to July 2015 by 50 percent.

Uganda hosts about 800,000 refugees from neighboring countries, making it the eighth-largest refugee hosting country in the world and the second in Africa after neighboring country Kenya. Endit