WFP facing fund shortage to support displaced people in Mozambique

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WFP facing fund shortage to support displaced people in Mozambique

4:44 CAT | 07 Jan 2021

Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-07 01:27:35|Editor: huaxia
MAPUTO, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) — The World Food Program (WFP) said on Wednesday it needs an additional fund of 108 million U.S. dollars to provide food assistance to the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mozambique’s northern province Cabo Delgado.

According to WFP’s Representative in Mozambique Antonella D’Aprile, the number of people displaced by the violence in Cabo Delgado has increased to 565,000, and a total of 750,000 people (including the host communities) were affected by the conflicts.

“To guarantee humanitarian food assistance in the next 12 months, the WFP needs 132.4 million U.S. dollars, of which only 24.4 million dollars have been guaranteed by the end of December 2020. Without sufficient funding, the food supply will be compromised up by March this year,” said D’Aprile in a press release issued in Maputo.

The representative added that the decision to maintain the basic food basket comes amid a new influx of internally displaced people seeking refuge in the southern districts of Cabo Delgado and in the neighboring provinces of Nampula, Niassa and the more distantly Zambezia and Sofala.

She said the IDPs are especially vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19 because they are clustered in camps, backyards of host families or outdoors without adequate shelter or access to clean drinking water and sanitation.

The representative urged that it is incredibly time to join efforts now and protect food and nutrition security and the livelihoods of Mozambicans affected by the armed attacks, Cyclone Kenneth and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If resources are made available and access is granted, the WFP can move cargo and its humanitarian workforce over land, sea and air to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to at least 750,000 internally displaced and host communities on a monthly basis,” she said.

The document said the WFP has so far managed to maintain the basic food aid basket critical to at least 400,000 people affected by the conflicts in the province of Cabo Delgado. Enditem

Source: Lusa