Food aid for Darfur cut in half

WFP [the United Nations World Food Program] said it was halving food aid from the minimum daily requirement of 2,100 calories to 1,050 calories as of May.

--Jeff Weintraub
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From the weblog of Norman Geras (Normblog)
April 30 2006

Hard decision

"This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. Haven't the people of Darfur suffered enough? Aren't we adding insult to injury?" WFP Executive Director James Morris said.

He's talking about the decision to cut food aid for Darfur:

The United Nations said on Friday it would cut food rations for more than 6 million people in Sudan, half of them in Darfur, because of a severe lack of funds.
Many donor countries appear to have tired of the long-term conflict in Darfur, despite signs that malnutrition is again on the rise among people living in squalid camps, the United Nations' World Food Program (WFP) said.
WFP said it was halving food aid from the minimum daily requirement of 2,100 calories to 1,050 calories as of May.

The report goes on to say that the US is the largest donor at $188 million, and that Italy is the only major European country to contribute so far ($1.2 million). See also here:

America and Britain are the two most generous bilateral donors. Aside from Libya, no Arab state has contributed anything, despite windfall gains from high oil prices and Sudan's membership of the Arab League.

And here:

The EU says it has allocated 48m euros ($60m) for the whole of Sudan this year, while the UK will donate £49m ($88m) through various aid agencies.

(Thanks: EC)
Posted by Norm at 08:56 PM Permalink