The United Nations food aid agency said on Friday that it will be forced to halve rations for refugees in Zambia within days because of a funding shortfall.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said it urgently needs $8,5-million to feed about 82 000 Angolans and Congolese in the African country.
Without the money, it will have no choice but to slash the refugees’ rations from January 1, WFP spokesperson Simon Pluess told journalists.
”The WFP has nothing in its pipeline that would allow us to feed this refugee population beyond the end of this month,” said Pluess.
The refugees, many of whom live in camps in remote areas of Zambia, depend entirely on WFP aid, he said.
”If we take such drastic action, that normally has direct consequences on increasing morbidity, mortality and stunted growth, as well as social problems.”
The WFP was already forced to cut rations for three months at the end of 2004 because of a lack of money.
At the time, in addition to a jump in malnutrition rates, aid workers logged a rise in sexually transmitted infections as some refugees turned to prostitution in exchange for food, said Pluess.
Besides the refugees, about 10% of Zambia’s 11-million people are also facing hunger due to drought. — Sapa-AFP