Acute fund crunch: UN food agency to stop feeding Rohingya refugees

Dhaka: The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is set to end food distribution to Rohingya refugees in Myanmar by March as the financial crisis deepens after the United States cut its contribution. The UN agency’s food distribution was hit hard by critical funding shortfalls from the US and some European countries. The move could starve an estimated one million Rohingya refugees. Myanmar is facing a severe humanitarian crisis due to fighting between the military government and armed groups opposing its rule.

The World Food Program said in a statement that most of the food rations currently distributed in Myanmar will be stopped from April 1. It was not immediately clear if the WFP's decision was directly related to the Trump administration's recent moves to stop most foreign aid and dismantle the US Agency for International Development, which have had wide-ranging effects on humanitarian efforts around the globe, the Associated Press reported.

Donald Trump's 90-day freeze on US foreign aid, including $60 million to continue food aid to Myanmar, has led to cuts in humanitarian services for refugees from the country. The US has been a “core contributor in the food security and livelihood sector in Myanmar”, and there was already a shortfall last year, with humanitarian needs only about 40 per cent funded, said a senior leader in the aid sector based in Asia, AP reported.

In a statement released by the WFP on Friday, it said that 15.2 million people, about a third of the total population there, are unable to meet their daily food needs, and about 2.3 million are facing hunger. Therefore, the organization said that currently, it can only help 35,000 of the most vulnerable people, including children under five, pregnant women, breastfeeding women and people with disabilities.