The United Arab Emirates have donated USD 60 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) to help with their humanitarian efforts in Ethiopia.
In response to a worrying surge in food insecurity, especially in the north of the country where 19 months of war have nearly worn out people’s coping strategies and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes, the financing will give emergency food and nutrition assistance.
In the Afar, Amhara, and Tigray regions that have been devastated by conflict, more than 13 million people need humanitarian food aid.
This is happening against the backdrop of the ongoing global food crisis, which is made worse by the mounting expenses associated with the conflict in Ukraine.
Through food distributions in Tigray, Afar, and Amhara, the UAE contributions will enable WFP to continue meeting the critical food requirements of 1.6 million people in the conflict-affected north of Ethiopia.
Conflict, climatic shocks, COVID-19’s economic effects, and the current Ukrainian crisis have all combined to worsen conditions in Ethiopia.
The population in need of food aid has doubled over the previous 12 months, reaching over 20.4 million individuals, and inflation is at its greatest peak in ten years.
“This fresh funding from the UAE reaches Ethiopians at a critical time.
With homes, harvests, and livestock destroyed by recent violence and the nation’s worst drought in forty years, we have witnessed some of the highest rises in food insecurity in the regions that have taken the brunt of the fighting.
People will exhaust all available coping mechanisms as the lean season approaches, and the WFP’s food assistance is their only hope.
The next three months are crucial, therefore we appreciate the UAE’s support and partnership now.
This will help to save millions of lives. stated Claude Jibidar, the WFP’s representative and country director in Ethiopia.
Since the Government announced a humanitarian truce in March, new contributions from the UAE and other significant donors have allowed WFP to continue scaling up its operations in Northern Ethiopia at a crucial time for communities before planting season.
Over the past ten weeks, WFP-led convoys have been delivering over 130,000 tonnes of food and other vital humanitarian commodities into Tigray at a rapid clip.
WFP will provide critical nutrition assistance to Ethiopian children and women who are malnourished as a result of the effects of conflict and drought with the support of the UAE.
As part of their assistance to Ethiopia, the UAE airlifted specialised nutritious foods into the Tigray region, where malnutrition affects over 20% of children under the age of five and 50% of expectant and nursing mothers.
According to a recent WFP survey in conflict-affected zones in both regions, nearly a third of parents (32%) in Afar zone 4 and 16% in Amhara revealed that their young children under five had been admitted to health centres in the previous three months due to malnutrition.
Over 700,000 refugees receive food aid from WFP each month in Ethiopia, but as a result of recent funding shortages, just half of their daily nutritional needs are currently being satisfied.
The UAE’s contribution will help pay for 20% of all refugee camps’ food aid.
Many people must come together and take action in order to address the severe humanitarian catastrophe in Ethiopia.
When needs are increasing, resources are still being stretched.
WFP’s capacity to continue its food and nutrition relief initiatives until the end of the year hangs in the balance despite excellent support so far this year.
Over the next six months, WFP hopes to assist more than 11 million of the most vulnerable people, but it faces a huge US$470 million financing shortage.