WFP Calls for Kenyan Aid

NAIROBI - Dec 17/04 - IRIN -- The UN World Food Programme (WFP) warns thousands of refugees in Kenya could go hungry unless it received immediate donations of cash or food.

The agency said it was in urgent need of US $9 million for the next six months to avoid further reductions in food aid for the 224,000 refugees living in Kenya. Food rations were cut by 12 percent in November, when WFP ran out of wheat flour, a staple in the refugees’ diet, WFP said in a statement.

The majority of the refugees come from southern Sudan and Somalia.

"Less and less food has been reaching refugee families," said Tesema Negash, WFP’s Country Director for Kenya. "Instead of 26 kg of food for two weeks, a family of three now has to make do with 23 kg. It will get continually worse unless contributions come forward urgently."

Other food supplies will start to run out by mid-March and, by April, WFP will have exhausted all available commodities for the refugees.

"Food shortages pose a serious risk of malnutrition to refugees, and may provoke a wider humanitarian crisis," said Negash. "Our daily food ration of 2,100 kilocalories is the bare minimum. Each time we reduce food rations in the camps, we see the level of malnutrition increase and the refugees become more vulnerable to disease. We do not want to see this happen again."

Refugees in Kenya are by law confined to camps in Kakuma and Dadaab, in the remote northern and eastern parts of the country. The harsh and impoverished environment around the camps means they are unlikely to find any means of feeding themselves.

Despite recent developments towards peace in both Somalia and Sudan, persistent civil unrest in Somalia and political uncertainty in Sudan continue to prevent refugees from returning home, WFP said. Recurrent drought and other natural disasters are additional deterrents, it added.

Copyright (c) 2004 UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs