By Ritah Kemigisa
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is desperately calling for international support for provision of adequate food to more than 1 million South Sudanese refugees.
This follows reports of protests by refugees at Nyumanzi settlement in Adjumani district over lack of food. The refugees claim that the 1kg of posho and 3kg of beans given to them every month is not enough.
According to Charlie Yaxley, provision of food rations remains a big challenge because underfunding of the humanitarian response has a direct impact on the assistance aid agencies ate able to provide.
“The challenge of providing enough food for refugees in Uganda is perhaps one of the clearest examples of why further support from the international community is so desperately needed”, Mr. Yaxley says.
He says currently, priority is given to the extremely like the elderly, orphans, new arrivals and disabled.
Yaxley adds that to address this, United Nations High Commission for Refugees is working with the World Food Program and Office of the Prime Minister on a program where refugees receive cash-based assistance instead of food rations.
