Three-quarters of refugees in East Africa supported by the United Nations have seen their rations reduced by up to 50% with those in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda the worst affected, the UN World Food Program (WFP) says.
WFP says that the food rations of 75% of East African refugees receiving from the agency have decreased by up to 50%, with countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda being hardest hit.
WFP executive director David Beasley says the agency was forced to make the difficult decision to reduce food rations because current resources could not keep up with the soaring demand for food around the globe.
"We are being forced to make the heartbreaking decision to cut food rations for refugees who rely on us for their survival."
The amount of WFP food aid to migrants in some West African countries such as Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger also decreased significantly. Food aid operations in Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and Zimbabwe are at risk of disruption.
More than two-thirds of the population required humanitarian assistance, with 8.3 million people, including refugees, expected to face "severe acute hunger" this year.
The WFP appealed for US$426 million to stave off famine in South Sudan where years of conflict and floods have forced millions of people from their homes.
The Russian war in Ukraine has significantly worsened the global refugee crisis and the risk of famine, not only creating 6 million additional refugees as civilians flee conflict zones, but in pushing up commodity prices, especially grain.
The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accuses Russia of choosing to "weaponise" grain exports by blocking grain from Ukraine destined for poor countries.
Before the Russian invasion, Ukraine served as one of the world's leading breadbaskets - exporting roughly 12% of the planet's wheat, 15 % of its corn, and half of its sunflower oil.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says that the war in Ukraine could "tip tens of millions of people over the edge into food insecurity.”
