UN to reduce food aid in Congo

Serious resource constraints are forcing the
United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to
reduce or interrupt some of its activities in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) beginning
this month, leaving thousands of people with no
food assistance.
WFP, which is funded entirely by voluntary
contributions, urgently needs $75 million to
continue its operations in DRC over the next six
months, it stated in a news release. One out ten
children in DR Congo suffers from acute
malnutrition and 6.3 million people there are
facing hunger and need food assistance.
Funding shortages over the last six months have
meant that WFP has already had to halve the
rations distributed to displaced people in North
Kivu province, at a time when the overall food
security situation is deteriorating in that part of
eastern DRC.
In North and South Kivu and in Orientale
provinces, some 500,000 food-insecure
displaced people will be affected by the funding
crisis, according to the agency. The provision of
daily hot meals to thousands of schoolchildren is
also in jeopardy, as is life-saving nutritional
support to some 180,000 malnourished children,
pregnant women and nursing mothers across
the country.
"We are very worried about the fate of thousands
of people who depend on WFP food assistance,"
said Martin Ohlsen, WFP Representative in DRC.
"At a time when the Congolese Government and
the international community are intensifying their
efforts to stabilize the eastern DRC, a suspension,
even a reduction, of humanitarian assistance
could seriously compromise our long-standing
investment in improving food security, restoring
livelihoods and building resilience.
"It's hard not to think that the tremendous needs
in the Philippines and Syria are overshadowing
cries for help from less visible, under-reported
parts of the world," Mr. Ohlsen added, stressing
the need for predictable funding over coming
months.
WFP also noted that, amid a growing awareness
about the threat of sexual violence in areas of
conflict, it is working closely with its partners to
ensure that measures are taken to protect
women in the DRC, where rape and other violent
attacks against women are rife.
Food distribution sites are chosen in close
consultation with women to limit their exposure
to attack and, where possible, use is made of
electronic vouchers for food and 'mobile money'
to minimize friction between beneficiaries and the
communities in which they live, said the agency.
Congo-Kinshasa