WFP cuts Zambia Food Rations

This is an article I pulled from the BBC's website, published Thursday Sept. 30th:




Refugees in Zambia face food cuts


The UN World Food Programme says it is cutting by half food rations to over 100,000 refugees in Zambia as of Friday because it is running out of money.

WFP director for Zambia David Stevenson told the BBC that they were seeking $3m (£1.7m) to ease the refugees' plight.

Zambia is home to some 300,000 refugees, mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.

"The purpose of today's appeal... is to emphasise how very serious the situation is," Mr Stevenson said.

The WFP says that with the world's attention focused on the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan, the often desperate situation of refugees elsewhere in Africa is being neglected by the donor community.

"So we're simply just saying to the donors, come let's go to the plate for this one and not forget the needy people here in Africa," Mr Stevenson told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

The WFP also said a further reduction in food rations would be implemented if more donor funding was not forthcoming by November.