WFP in urgent need of additional resources

WFP's protracted relief and recovery operation (PRRO) in Uganda which is currently only 37 percent resourced, is in urgent need of additional resources to maintain WFP distributions, the agency said in its latest emergency update. The PRRO in the country is assisting some 673,000 IDPs and refugees in northern and western Uganda, along the borders with Sudan and the DRC. In west Nile region, a recent joint food needs assessment conducted by WFP, UNHCR, the government and implementing partners, indicates that the refugees settled along the River Nile are experiencing crop failures, due to changes in weather patterns. It noted that UNHCR had begun voluntary relocation of some of the refugees residing in the area. "WFP is assisting some 151,000 of these refugees through general distribution and food-for-asset activities," it said. Meanwhile, in Bundibugyo district, on the border with DRC, 6,434 refugees fleeing ethnic clashes in eastern parts of that country have been registered by UNHCR. "The situation in the transit camps is volatile due to insecurity, poor sanitation and lack of shelter," WFP noted. The agency said its one-month food rations have been distributed to the registered refugees. It said that UNHCR was reportedly planning to relocate the refugees to the existing Kyaka II refugee camp, Kabarole district, western Uganda. "WFP also continues to assist 97,000 IDPs in Bundibugyo through general distributions and food-for-asset activities," it said.