Refugees in east Africa go hungry as funds dry up

AT A FOODWFPWFP distribution centre in Bidibidi, a refugee settlement in Uganda, a handwritten cardboard sign tells refugees their maize ration: 15kg for two months. That works out to 250 grams a day, to go with 60 grams of beans, a splash of oil and half a teaspoon of salt. A day after receiving hers, Ito Juani has already used some of it to repay a loan of cassava that got her through a lean spell. “The world has given up on us,” she says.Who can deny it? In the past year the World Food Programme () has slashed rations for more than 3m refugees in seven countries across eastern Africa—by 40% in the case of Uganda. In some settlements, where it gives out cash instead of food, refugees must make do with 19,000 shillings ($5.36) a month. In South Sudan, where rations have fallen by half, the is taking from the hungry to feed the starving, writes its executive director, David Beasley. Officials say they have only half the money they need to feed east African refugees for the rest of the year. Donor fatigue had set in before covid-19, but tight pandemic budgets have made things worse.