KHARTOUM - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is appealing for funding to provide food and nutrition assistance to over 60,000 refugees who crossed from Ethiopia into eastern Sudan in recent months. WFP welcomes a contribution of US$800,000 from Japan.
"WFP is grateful to the Government and people of Japan for this generous contribution, which comes at a critical time as the humanitarian situation at the border remains dire," said WFP Representative and Country Director in Sudan Hameed Nuru.
The contribution from the Government of Japan helps WFP provide monthly food rations including sorghum, lentils, oil and salt to refugees fleeing Ethiopia's Tigray region after violence broke out on 4 November.
"The government of Japan is honoured to contribute to the protection and assistance for people who have been displaced as a responsible member of the international community," stated Ambassador of Japan H.E. Mr. Takashi Hattori
"Japan will continue to support the efforts of Sudan through its firm partnership with WFP," he concluded.
"People arriving at the border have fled with almost nothing, exhausted and hungry with no sense of when they can return home. It is essential that we move quickly to provide necessary assistance as they overcome the shock of being displaced from their homes," Nuru continued.
"I'm also pleased to announce a crowdfunding campaign on behalf of the refugees arriving from Ethiopia that WFP launched last week via the Share the Meal App. This campaign allows individual givers from all around the world to make donations towards this cause at a time when it's needed most," he said.
WFP officially launched a ShareTheMeal fundraising campaign last week aiming for individual users of the ShareTheMeal app to share 1,000,000 meals. In addition to contributions from Japan and the Share the Meal campaign, WFP received €15,000 from Andorra for the refugee response.
WFP rapidly responded to the influx of new refugees from day one, providing food for hot meals and high energy biscuits at reception centres on the border, giving logistical support to the humanitarian community, distributing monthly food rations to refugees in camps, and providing nutrition support to children under five and pregnant or nursing women.
Flexible funding from Germany, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States enabled WFP to divert resources in the amount of US$5.2 million towards the immediate response to refugees right at the start of this emergency.
Despite these generous contributions and efforts, WFP Sudan still requires US$173.8 million in funding for its operations in the first half of this year, of which US$8.6 million is needed to sustain food assistance and nutrition support for refugees arriving from Tigray over the coming four months.
