The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has cut rations for more than 780,000 refugees in camps across Ethiopia to less than 1,000 calories a day as funding shortfalls continue to weigh heavily on the organization’s humanitarian operations.
The agency warns that without USD 230 million in immediate funding, it could be forced to completely suspend all food assistance to refugees in Ethiopia within the coming months.
WFP is the largest humanitarian agency globally and is the sole humanitarian assistance provider for over 1.1 million refugees and millions of IDPs in Ethiopia.
“We are making impossible choices,” a statement released this week quotes Zlatan Milisic, WFP Ethiopia country director, as saying. “We are trying to reach as many refugees as possible with meaningful amounts of food assistance. But without more funds, these reductions are just another step towards stopping food distributions completely, putting the lives of those we currently assist at risk.”
From The Reporter Magazine
The statement indicates that only 70,000 newly arrived refugees from South Sudan and Sudan, many of whom are severely malnourished, will continue to receive full rations for the coming six months.
Close to 800,000 more refugees will be forced to survive on 40 percent rations, down from the 60 percent they had been receiving since the last downsizing in May 2023.
“WFP’s supplies of specialized nutritious foods provided to malnourished children and mothers are also running dangerously low. They are expected to run out completely by December, meaning that WFP’s support for one million malnourished children and pregnant and breastfeeding women would also end unless additional funds are received,” reads the statement.
From The Reporter Magazine
WFP’s operations in Ethiopia have been curtailed by funding constraints and security issues for the past several years, but the problems have become more pronounced with time.
A year ago, Milisic told The Reporter that seeing through humanitarian assistance programs and deliveries had grown increasingly challenging for the UN agency.
“Security challenges are often linked to banditry or robbery on the road by unidentified armed groups. They pose risks, threats, and challenges for us,” he said.
The movements of the world’s largest humanitarian organization were and continue to be deeply affected by protracted conflicts and security threats in Oromia, Gambella, Somali, parts of Tigray, and Afar, as well as by the silent battles going on between armed groups and government forces in the Amhara region, according to the Director.
“It’s difficult logistically and it’s difficult security-wise,” he said. “There are issues, particularly in the Amhara Regional State.”
In January 2025, sources told The Reporter that the WFP Ethiopia office was preparing to lay off more than a third of its 1,500 staff in a bid to cut expenses.
Barely four months later, WFP announced it was suspending life-saving nutrition treatment programs for 650,000 malnourished women and children in Ethiopia. A quick response from donors allowed the programs to continue, but this week’s statement warns that may not be the case for long.
“Our operations have been hanging by a thread for months now,” said Milisic. “This is not only undermining our ongoing support to food insecure Ethiopians and refugees, but also our preparedness to respond to new crises, which could span new refugee influxes, drought conditions or other climate shocks.”
WFP supported 4.7 million vulnerable people in Ethiopia between January and October this year with food assistance, nutrition support, school meals and resilience activities, according to the statement.
