Northern crisis stretching WFP resources to "breaking point"

The ongoing crisis in northern Uganda has stretched the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to the limit, and unless significant donations are received in the next few weeks, it will soon be unable to feed the 1.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the region. The WFP requires US $56 million before the end of the year. "But unless significant donations are received in the coming weeks, stocks of cereals will be exhausted by July. Shortfalls of beans and other food aid items will follow shortly afterwards," WFP said in a statement on Thursday. "WFP needs $21 million now to continue to supply food until August, when the harvest is due." "The number of people in need has doubled in the past year, and the sheer scale of the crisis is stretching WFP’s resources in Uganda to breaking point. New donations are urgently required to prevent the crisis worsening dramatically," said the statement. WFP country director for Uganda, Ken Davies, told IRIN in Kampala: "We were always going to hit the wall in July. Now I have this huge shortfall coming up and I have to start screaming about it." The UN food agency currently provides 80 percent of the minimum amount of food people need to survive in the troubled Ugandan districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader. "This is because we estimated that the people in those districts are able to access roughly 20 percent of their minimum nutritional requirements," said Davis. WFP said it was experiencing shortages of foodstuffs like cereals, pulses, vegetable oils, and corn soya blend for children. "If new funding is not forthcoming, WFP will be forced to cut rations drastically. Assessments have shown that people not assisted by WFP can meet only 20 percent of their minimum food requirements for survival," it said. It said it had this month been forced to cut fortified food for young children from a standard household ration so as to save dwindling supplies for therapeutic feeding centres and primary schools. According to WFP, when food supplies last ran short between November 2002 and February 2003, there was a corresponding surge in malnutrition rates among young children. "WFP is now appealing for cash contributions to buy maize and fortified blended food for malnourished children, both of which are available for purchase in Uganda," it added. Davies said: "Vicious raids by marauding rebels create a climate of terror that prevents farmers from reaching their fields to plant crops. The people have lost an entire growing season, so even if security improves, the next harvest for most people will not be until the end of this year." "We are dealing with a critical, ongoing crisis," he stressed. The 18-year rebellion against the government of Uganda by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army has caused the massive population displacements in the region. WFP said the rebels had continued to attack IDPs camps, burn homes, loot assets, abduct children, rape and kill in a brutal campaign of violence, and to disrupt travel by ambushing vehicles on the main roads.