More than 57,000 refugees at Malawi’s Dzaleka Refugee Camp could lose all World Food Programme (WFP) food assistance from August because of funding shortages.
Footage filmed on Tuesday shows refugees going about their daily lives as uncertainty grows over how families will afford food.
“After August, if we do not get any funding, we will have to completely stop all of the assistance that we are providing,” warned Aachal Chand, WFP Malawi Head of Programme.
“There has been a global funding shortage,” she added. “We are not seeing the funding required to sustain the needs here.”
Refugees fear the loss of aid would be devastating.
“We are likely going to die of hunger. I am almost dead already because I am taking diabetes treatment without having proper meals,” said Ebambi Marie Jeanne, a refugee from the DRC.
Officials said the camp receives about 300 asylum seekers monthly, many fleeing conflict in eastern DR Congo.
“On a monthly basis, we continue to receive around 300 asylum seekers <…> about 43,000 people are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” said Vincent Chaduka, a Department for Refugees official.
Opened in 1994, Dzaleka is now home to refugees and asylum seekers, most of them from DR Congo.
Fighting continues in parts of eastern DR Congo despite diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. The Congolese government has repeatedly accused Rwanda of backing M23, an allegation Kigali denies.
Source: Viory
