Food stocks depleting rapidly

Food stocks in Eritrea have been depleted quickly, and food insecurity could worsen for target groups unless pledges from last year arrive soon. The USAID-funded Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS) said the food security outlook would depend on a number of factors, including rain conditions in the coming season, the situation in conflict-affected territories, and the outcome of the Ethiopian-Eritrean peace process. In its February update, FEWS said the implementation of the peace process was important to enable people “to return on time to start their normal productive lives again.” If the peace process was not implemented as expected, many of the people displaced by conflict “will remain in camps and host communities and will depend on relief aid for some time to come.” More refugees may arrive in the country from Sudan under the UNHCR voluntary repatriation programme.
There are close to 7,000 internally displaced Afars in the Southern Red Sea area, an Eritrean Information and Coordination Centre (ICC) field team reported. The needs of this displaced group had not been accounted for by the government or joint government-UN Needs Assessments, FEWS said.