The World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday appealed to donors for more funding for refugees in Rwanda, as it is forced to cut food assistance to them by 60 percent as of March.

Some 135,000 Burundian and Congolese refugees in camps in Rwanda depend on humanitarian assistance to meet their basic food needs, according to the UN humanitarian organization.

"This is a desperate situation and, without an immediate response from donors, we simply have no choice but to reduce our assistance to the refugees," WFP Rwanda country director Edith Heines said in a statement.

She urgently appealed to donors to quickly assist the refugees and provide additional funding so that the WFP can return to full rations and avoid prolonged negative impacts.

The WFP said that it currently provides refugees with a monthly cash transfer, 7,600 Rwandan francs (7.72 U.S. dollars) for each, to buy food in local markets under the full ration allocation, which ensures the basic foods to meet their minimum nutrition requirements.

It requires 9 million dollars to avert ration reductions from March through June and 20.6 million for the full assistance for the whole year.

It warned of deeper reductions in the coming months if without new funding.

Source:
courtesy of XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

by XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

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