UN chief vows to ‘speak loud’ to avert ration cuts for Rohingya in Bangladesh
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh Reuters The United Nations will do all it can to help prevent food rations being cut for Rohingya refugees in camps in Bangladesh, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday during a visit to the world’s largest refugee settlement. Guterres visited the border district of Cox’s Bazar, in southern Bangladesh, after the […]
UN plans to halve rations to Rohingya refugees without urgent funding
Dhaka, Bangladesh Reuters The United Nations has warned it will have to cut monthly food rations to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from $US12.50 to $US6 next month, unless it can raise funds to avert a measure that would worsen hunger in the world’s largest refugee settlement. “Yesterday, I was informed verbally, and today I received […]
Extra one million people could be engulfed in Somalia hunger crisis, WFP says
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters One million more people in Somalia could face crisis levels of hunger in coming months due to a forecast drought during the next crop cycle, the World Food Programme said on Tuesday. The number could rise even further because of funding cuts, Jean-Martin Bauer, director of the WFP’s Food Security and Nutrition […]
UN food agency shuts Southern Africa bureau during drought, citing low funding
Johannesburg, South Africa Reuters The United Nations World Food Programme, which relies on the US for nearly half its budget, is closing its Southern Africa bureau due to funding constraints, the agency said on Monday as the region struggles to withstand a severe drought. President Donald Trump’s administration has slashed foreign aid contracts around the […]
UN halts food help in Sudan camp, warns thousands could starve
United Nations/Cairo, Egypt Reuters The United Nations World Food Programme has temporarily stopped distributing food aid in a famine-struck camp for displaced people in Sudan’s North Darfur amid escalating violence, warning that thousands of families could starve in the coming weeks. The move comes two days after medical charity MSF suspended its activities in Zamzam […]
UN seeks $US6 billion to ease hunger catastrophe in Sudan
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters UN officials on Monday asked for $US6 billion for Sudan this year from donors to help ease what they called the world’s worst ever hunger catastrophe and the mass displacement of people brought on by civil war. The UN appeal represents a rise of more than 40 per cent from last year’s […]
US lifts pause on food donations for World Food Programme
New York/Washington DC, US Reuters The United States has lifted a pause on food donations, the UN World Food Programme said, ending a suspension that an aid watchdog on Monday warned had left 500,000 metric tons of food currently at sea or ready to be shipped in limbo. “We can confirm that the recent pause […]
Famine mostly averted but is a danger again if Gaza ceasefire collapses, UN humanitarian chief says
Cairo, Egypt AP Famine has been mostly averted in Gaza as a surge of aid enters the territory during a fragile ceasefire, the United Nations humanitarian chief said Sunday. But he warned the threat could return quickly if the truce collapses. Tom Fletcher spoke to The Associated Press after a two-day visit to Gaza, where hundreds of trucks carrying […]
Jordan launches air corridor for life-saving medicines into Gaza
Near Kissufim, Gaza Strip Reuters Jordan’s air force launched on Tuesday the biggest air bridge so far to bring urgent medical supplies to Gaza under a US-sponsored deal to step up deliveries following a ceasefire, officials said. The operation involves 16 helicopter flights a day that will at first deliver at least 160 tonnes of […]
Trump’s freeze on US aid rings alarm bells from Thailand to Ukraine
Berlin, Germany/Bangkok, Thailand/London, UK Reuters Field hospitals in Thai refugee camps, landmine clearance in war zones, and drugs to treat millions suffering from diseases such as HIV are among the programs facing the chop as President Donald Trump contemplates massive cuts to US foreign aid. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency […]