Djibouti
Refugees in Djibouti face malnutrition

afrol News, 24 May - Food supplies are rapidly running out for Somali living refugees in Djibouti, leaving some 25,000 people at risk of malnutrition. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) yesterday appealed for an emergency infusion of 8,000 tons food as food rations already are shortened. 

In April, WFP was forced to reduce food rations by 20 per cent due to insufficient resources. Refugees are no longer receiving rations of corn-soya blend, a nutritious flour enriched with vitamins, while vegetable oil rations have been cut in half, the UN agency reports.

- Refugees are now getting rations well below agreed international nutritional standards, said Fatma Samoura, WFP Representative in Djibouti. "If we do not quickly restore normal rations, malnutrition will sharply increase in the camps."

There are 25,605 refugees in the small semi-desert country Djibouti, the majority of whom came from Somalia beginning in 1988. The first refugees arrived in Djibouti almost 14 years ago as a consequence of the civil conflict in northern Somalia. A second influx of Somali refugees occurred at the end of 1991 when fighting intensified in Somalia. Ethiopian refugees fleeing civil unrest in the Ogaden region followed them the same year. 

According to WFP, food assistance to the refugees is crucial because they have no other means to feed themselves. They cannot grow their own food due to the arid climate and water shortage in Djibouti. Moreover, there are no employment opportunities in the remote areas where the camps are located.

The break in WFP's food pipeline might also delay a refugee repatriation programme planned jointly by the agency and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which is due to start early June with a group of about 2,000 Somalis. "We might have to postpone the whole repatriation exercise if we cannot provide refugees with a decent food package to help them resettle in their home country," said Fatma Samoura. "Most of them lost their houses, livestock and even their farms when they fled conflict in their country." 

In March, WFP launched an 18-month relief and recovery operation to provide assistance to refugees in Djibouti. So far, the agency has received less than 17 per cent of the US$ 4 million needed for the operation.

Sources: Based onUN sources and afrol archives

© afrol News.    You can contact us at mail@afrol.com