When misfortune is added to misfortune. Due to a lack of financial resources, the UN is forced to cut its aid to Syrians in need of basic food aid by nearly half. “An unprecedented funding crisis in Syria is forcing the World Food Program (WFP) to reduce its basic food assistance by 2.5 million people, compared to 5.5 million” rescued so far, the WFP said in a statement.
“After having examined all its options” and rather than seeing all of its reserves exhausted by October, the WFP specifies that it had to choose to come to the aid of the “three million Syrians unable to cope week to week without food aid. »
“Instead of increasing [les opérations] or simply to keep pace with growing needs, we face the grim scenario of depriving part of the population of assistance, at a time when people need it most,” lamented Kenn Crossle, WFP Representative in Syria. , quoted in the press release. The UN agency’s announcement comes on the eve of the 7th European Union conference in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region.
War, pandemic, earthquake…
Syria is emerging from a bloodless 12-year war that has claimed half a million lives, displaced millions and fragmented the country. A situation aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic which led to a serious economic crisis and caused prices to explode, as well as by the devastating earthquake of February 6.
“Currently, an average monthly income covers only about a quarter of a family’s food needs,” notes the WFP. “Further ration reductions are impossible. Our only solution is to reduce the number of recipients,” said Kenn Crossle. Even before the earthquake, “12.1 million people in the country were in the grip of hunger”, according to the WFP.