WFP announces slight food increases

The severely depleted food rations of refugees living in camps in Western Tanzania are to be increased slightly by mid-April, the World Food Programme announced. Aid agencies in the west of the country welcomed the 16 percent rise in caloric value of the rations, but refugees and local officials continued to voice their concerns over the lack of food in the camps. "As a result of the recent positive reaction from donors, we are pleased to say that on the 14th April, the refugees will be receiving 72 percent of normal cereal rations, as opposed to the 50 percent they are receiving at the moment," Steyne Roggers, a WFP officer in Kibondo, Western Tanzania, told IRIN. Corn-Soya-Blend (CSB) rations are to remain at 75 percent, but vegetable oil and pulses will be reduced to 50 percent and 75 percent of normal rations, respectively, WFP said. On 27 Thursday, the UN agency warned that fresh supplies of cereals would dry up completely in April and May, as the volume flowing into the country remained "very unhealthy". "We are also hoping that by July, we will be able to provide full rations to the refugees," Roggers added. Earlier this year, refugee rations were cut severely following, what WFP called supply "pipeline problems". The move caused an outcry from Tanzanian officials. "I am worried that the situation might erupt at any moment and the refugees will enter the villages in search of food," Lt Col. J.A. Mzurikwao, the Kibondo district commissioner, said. "I think that there is a conspiracy. There is this lack of food because people are trying to force us to leave the camps and return home," The Rev Pierre Minani, a Burundian living in Nduta camp, said. A refugee from Nduta, Ndaruzaniye Yoramu, told IRIN there were "many more" patients in hospital now because of hunger. "People are now only taking one meal a day," Yoramu said. The International Rescue Committee, the organisation that manages health facilities in the camp, acknowledged that they had seen some increase in the number of cases of malnutrition, but said it was too early to quantify.