Supplies needed for IDPs and drought-affected

The World Food Programme (WFP) said in its June emergency report that more pledges were needed to continue with a programme for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. It said without further pledges, “there will be insufficient cereal supplies to enable the operation to continue beyond July”. The national cereal supplies to small-scale farmers and drought-affected pastoralists were secure until the end of the year, should the European Union pledge of 110,000 mt be made available for distribution - but that an increase in needs was anticipated. There were assessments of the pastoralist situation and the seasonal Belg harvest under way “after which it is expected that there will be an increase in needs”, the report said. The WFP cereal pipeline was only secure until September, with a current shortfall of approximately 75,000 mt, the report said. Pastoralist communities in areas affected by last year’s crisis are struggling to recover from the regional three-year drought, which led to a massive international humanitarian intervention.