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| In the Central African Republic, two million people, nearly half the country’s entire population, face hunger as a result of reduced funding for the U.N. World Food Program. |
With crises around the globe competing for donor dollars, WFP is reducing the quantity and frequency of food it supplies, and delivering that assistance to smaller numbers of people throughout Africa, in countries including Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda.
In Bambari, a flashpoint in the Central African Republic, about 115,000 people receive monthly rations from the WFP mostly those seeking safety from fighting between armed groups.
The displaced people who are now in Bambari face major difficulties, Mayor Mathieu Bataben told VOA: “They abandoned everything.
They abandoned their fields of manioc. They abandoned their fields of maize. This permitted them to subsist. Because they are far from their fields, they have no revenue. This creates a real problem of food.”
Misery in IDP camp
At the site of an old cotton factory, 24-year-old Romiarde Mbiangbanga lives with about 3,000 other internally displaced people. Gutted buildings serve as shelter from the rain for some; others live in thatched huts or under lean-tos.Mbiangbanga moved here in January 2014 after his village was attacked by a Muslim militia. He feels trapped in this camp because armed groups still roam the area.
“Because of the security, where can we search for work?” he asked. “It’s because of that, we can’t walk, we can’t go find work anywhere. Always here.”
Mbiangbanga goes into the bush to collect wood to sell in the market. He uses that extra income to supplement the food he gets from the WFP. In Bambari and across the country, rations have been cut to an average of 25 percent of normal levels.
“Nothing to eat,” he said. “Here when they came to distribute, it’s terribly insufficient. It’s terribly insufficient.”