UN agency gets $118M in funds to mitigate mounting challenges of displaced in Africa

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has received $118 million from the United States, through USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, to provide life-saving assistance to over 1 million displaced people in Eastern and Central Africa.

The funding comes as the number of displaced people in the region has doubled over the past four years, rising from 13.2 million in 2020 to 26.5 million in 2024, according to the WFP.

The increase is attributed to conflict, including the ongoing war in Sudan, and extreme weather events such as the prolonged Horn of Africa drought from 2020 to 2023.

Laurent Bukera, WFP’s regional director for Eastern Africa, said: “This funding from the US is critical to ensure we can maintain support for these vulnerable displaced people, many of whom rely almost entirely on humanitarian assistance to survive.”

The contribution will enable the UN program to provide cash transfers and in-kind food assistance to displaced populations, including refugees, asylum seekers, returnees, internally displaced persons, and food-insecure host communities in Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The WFP noted that despite the significant increase in displaced populations, resources have not grown proportionally, forcing the agency to make difficult decisions about who receives aid and how much.

The UN organization supports over 2.4 million refugees across Eastern and Central Africa with reduced food rations due to funding shortages.

This includes 60,000 in Burundi, 23,000 in Djibouti, 650,000 in Kenya, 120,000 in Rwanda, 191,000 in Tanzania, 1.4 million in Uganda, and 30,000 in the Republic of Congo, with rations ranging from 30% to 82% of the full amount.