A shortage of funds has forced the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to halve its food rations for tens of thousands of Congolese refugees in Rwanda effective from September1 reliable information indicates.
“This is a very difficult decision, but we currently do not have sufficient funds to provide the full recommended daily allowance of 2,100 kilocalories to more than 54,000 Congolese refugees in Rwanda,” said Abdoulaye Balde, WFP representative in Rwanda.
The lack of funds is particularly affecting the procurement of Super Cereal, a blend of maize, soy and micronutrients that is used in the programs designed for HIV patients and malnourished children.
The agency needs the urgent support of donors to cover a critical shortfall of 2,250 tons of assorted commodities valued at $3.8 million, which will enable it to continue to feed the refugees, who live in three camps in Rwanda, until the end of this year.
The agency warns that reduced nutritional support could lead to higher malnutrition rates among the refugee population, especially children, pregnant women and nursing mothers.
The DR Congo and Rwanda governments have in the recent past settled the political misunderstandings and jointly repatriated their 150,000 nationals taking refuge in each other’s country, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Officials from the two countries met in Goma, in North Kivu province in eastern DRC, in a UNHCR facilitated gathering to discuss the first steps to be taken.
Some 100,000 Rwandans that had been sheltering in eastern DRC since the 1994 genocide that claimed nearly one million lives returned to their home country and apparently the humanitarian conditions in both former archrival states are conducive for their citizens.
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