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This is Shep O'Neal with the VOA Special English Development Report.
Two United Nations agencies have appealed for more money to supply food
to refugee camps in Africa. They say they have had to cut food aid to
hundreds of thousands of people. Most are in West Africa and the Great
Lakes area.
The World Food Program says it needs more than two hundred million
dollars for its operations though the end of this year. The Office of the
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says it will need at least one hundred
eighty million.
The two agencies say the cuts have created suffering among those
affected. Special feeding programs for young children, pregnant women and
new mothers have also been reduced.
Forty-four thousand Liberian refugees in Sierra Leone have received
less food since May. Four hundred thousand refugees in Tanzania have been
affected for almost a year. They have received only two-thirds of their
daily needs. The U.N. agencies say the situation there has improved a
little now, but more money is needed to prevent future cuts.
In southern Chad, refugees from the Central
African Republic have also had their shipments
limited.
In Sudan, the World Food Program reported a separate problem: a
shortage of airplane fuel at the worst time of year. Aid workers call it
the hunger season. The agency says it had to cut in half its emergency
food shipments in August to more than one million people in the south. The
fuel shortage also affected efforts in the Darfur area in western Sudan.
Also in Africa, there were more warnings last week
about the food crisis in Niger. It follows rain shortages and a
locust
invasion last
year. Doctors Without Borders says recent international aid has yet to
help some areas that need it most. The medical aid group says tens of
thousands of children still require immediate assistance.
The group found that one in five children suffered from malnutrition in
the Zinder area in August. It says death rates were higher than when the
crisis began in January.
Last week, the World Food Program reported "good progress" in its work
in Niger. The aim is to supply food to more than three and one-half
million people. But the U.N. agency says its operation remains only
fifty-eight percent financed. The next harvest in most of Niger is several
weeks away.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss.
Our reports are on the Web at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Shep
O'Neal. | 
