The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is warning that it will be forced to suspend its life-saving assistance to one million people in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province unless additional funding is urgently received. In a media briefing Friday, the UN agency said it is also faced with funding shortfalls for the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) that WFP runs on behalf of the entire humanitarian community.
The World Food Programme requires US$ 51 million to continue delivering life-saving assistance in Mozambique’s north. Otherwise, food aid will be cut off in February, the peak of the lean season in Mozambique, when food stocks are at their lowest. The month is also during the country’s cyclone season, a period of great vulnerability. According to WFP, the funding situation has been worrying for some time: since past April, food rations to families have been halved due to limited funding and increasing needs. Families in Cabo Delgado are now receiving less than 40 percent of their minimum caloric needs.
Cabo Delgado is the most food insecure province in Mozambique and food security continues to deteriorate. Nearly 1.15 million people in the province are suffering crisis or emergency levels of hunger. Recent data indicates a further aggravation of hunger. To make matters worse, violence in Cabo Delgado has intensified in recent months, with unprecedented attacks in districts close to its capital, Pemba and in neighboring Nampula province, forcing more and more people to flee their villages. The number of displaced people has quadrupled to nearly one million people in the last two years. Many people had been displaced and traumatized multiple times.
Five years after extreme fighting erupted between insurgents and the Mozambican army in the northern province, thousands of people have been killed, and the security situation remains volatile. The Mozambican government's fight against the Islamist rebels is supported by troops from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Notwithstanding the widespread violence, WFP has been providing emergency assistance to one million displaced people in Mozambique’s north - including in previously inaccessible areas. In most remote areas of the north, the UN Humanitarian Air Service is the only air service available for aid workers. In December 2020, WFP opened an airbridge connecting inaccessible areas. UNHAS has since transported over 10,000 humanitarian personnel and 70,000 kg of humanitarian cargo.
The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization. The UN agency, awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, is saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to support people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change. The World Food Programme works in over 120 countries and territories. For millions of people worldwide, WFP assistance can make the difference between life and death.
The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) is a United Nations airline that offers passenger and cargo transport for the humanitarian community to and from areas of crisis and intervention, allowing life-saving projects to be implemented. The air service is managed by the World Food Programme. It is headquartered in Rome, Italy. Established in 2001, UNHAS is used in particular for transporting humanitarian workers. According to WFP, it is the only humanitarian air service that gives equal access to all humanitarian entities.
Further information
Full text: Funds dry up as hunger looms in Mozambique's north, WFP news release, published November 11, 2022
https://www.wfp.org/news/funds-dry-hunger-looms-mozambiques-north
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