UN to resume full rations to refugees in Kenya

Politics and policy

Refugees queue for food rations at the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya. PHOTO | FILE 

By AFP

In Summary

• Last month WFP announced it had been forced to slash food handouts to nearly half a million people living in two camps in northern Kenya and who have fled conflict in Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said Tuesday it will resume full food rations to refugees in Kenya in January following a successful appeal to foreign donors.

Last month WFP announced it had been forced to slash food handouts to nearly half a million people living in two camps in northern Kenya and who have fled conflict in Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.

READ: WFP cuts food rations to refugees in Kenya in half

"Refugees depend on food assistance for their survival and we are relieved that we can now once again meet the full food needs of refugees in Dadaab and Kakuma," said Thomas Hansson, WFP's Acting Country Director for Kenya.

The Dadaab camp complex in Kenya's northeast is home to one of the world's largest refugee populations, housing over 350,000 Somali refugees. The Kakuma camp in the arid north-western Turkana region mainly houses refugees from South Sudan, Sudan and Somalia.

WFP said the $45 million in fresh contributions had come from the European Union, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the United States, adding that rations would only be cut by 40 per cent in December and return to normal levels in January.

WFP spends almost $10 million a month to hand out the 9,700 tonnes of food needed to feed some 500,000 refugees in Kenya.

READ: Kenya refugee crisis worsens as thousands flee South Sudan