US gives K182m rescue package for Dzaleka
The United States of America (USA) has provided $500 000 (about K182 million) for the World Food Programme (WFP) to urgently buy food for about 18 000 refugees currently staying at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa District.
US Ambassador Jeanine Jackson announced this on Wednesday after meeting the refugees at the camp. She was accompanied by heads of United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and WFP.
She said: “The contribution covers WFP’s need for these vital commodities through December of this year.”
Jackson said her government is now the world’s largest donor to WFP worldwide, supporting over 45 million refugees in the world. Its contribution now stands at $890 million, thus over K300 billion.
WFP country representative Coco Ushiyama said: “In Malawi, WFP and our partners are currently supporting around 18 500 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] and other countries in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa, including Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia and Ethiopia.
“WFP has supported refugees in Malawi since 2002. On average, it has assisted 12 000 refugees annually over the past 11 years, with fluctuations year to year, and recent decreases in 2010 before rising again to the current figure.”
She warned that recent upsurge in violence in DRC has prompted around 600 new arrivals of refugees crossing the border into Malawi each month since May 2013.
UNHCR country representative George Kuchio said the commission is struggling with lack of resources and is only giving the refugees what it can afford.
