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Ukraine could fail to meet future wheat demand if attacks continue, UN agency warns

Wheat grain is loaded into the cargo vessel Mezhdurechensk before its departure for the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in the port of Mariupol, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on 25th October, 2023.

United NationsReuters The United Nations World Food Programme warned on Tuesday that Ukraine’s wheat production may be unable to meet domestic and export demand in the years to come if Black Sea export routes remain blocked and attacks on food infrastructure continue. Wheat grain is loaded into the cargo vessel Mezhdurechensk before its departure for […]

Afghanistan earthquakes a “disaster on top of a disaster” – World Food Programme

Atefeh, 6, an Afghan girl who says she lost her father and brother in the recent earthquake, poses for a photograph at the Red Crescent camp in district of Zinda Jan, in Herat, Afghanistan, on 10th October, 2023

Karachi, Pakistan Reuters The World Food Programme on Wednesday called the recent Afghanistan earthquakes a ‘disaster on top of a disaster,’ urging the international community to provide humanitarian aid to the war-torn nation. Limited aid makes relief work difficult after earthquakes and aftershocks since Saturday rattled the religiously conservative nation. The tremors killed at least […]

WFP resumes food distribution to refugees in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, EthiopiaReuters The UN World Food Programme has resumed distribution of food to roughly 900,000 refugees across Ethiopia after revamping safeguards and controls, following reports of large-scale theft of its donations, it said in a statement. The WFP suspended food distributions in all of Ethiopia in June, a day after the United States announced […]

EU temporarily holds back food aid in Somalia after UN records widespread theft

Internally displaced Somali children gather outside their makeshift shelters at the Ladan camp for internally displaced people in Dollow, Somalia, on 1st May, 2023.

United Nations/Nairobi, Kenya/Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The European Union executive has temporarily suspended funding for the World Food Programme in Somalia, two senior EU officials told Reuters on Monday, after a UN investigation found widespread theft and misuse of aid, which had been meant to avert a famine. The European Commission gave more than $US7 million in […]

Explainer – What happens if Black Sea grain corridor deal is not extended?

Commercial vessels including vessels which are part of Black Sea grain deal wait to pass the Bosphorus strait off the shores of Yenikapi during a misty morning in Istanbul, Turkey, on 31st October, 2022.

London, UKReuters A deal allowing Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea expires on 17th July and with Moscow saying it sees no grounds for an extension there are fears it may collapse. Why is it important?Ukraine is a major producer of grains and oilseeds and the interruption to its exports at the outbreak […]

UN food aid deliveries by AI robots could begin next year

An all-terrain "Sherp" vehicle, operated by World Food Programme, is driven through floodwaters, to deliver aid to vulnerable communities, in Twic East, Jonglei State, South Sudan, on 9th March, 2023.

Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters AI-powered robotic vehicles could deliver food parcels to conflict and disaster zones by as early as next year in a move aimed to spare the lives of humanitarian workers, a World Food Programme official told Reuters. An all-terrain “Sherp” vehicle, operated by World Food Programme, is driven through floodwaters, to deliver aid to […]

Many culprits stole food aid in north Ethiopia, investigation finds

Internally displaced Ethiopians queue to receive food aid in the Higlo camp for people displaced by drought in the town of Gode, Somali Region, Ethiopia, on 26th April, 2022.

Nairobi, KenyaReuters Regional and Federal Government officials as well as Eritrean soldiers were involved in the theft of food aid in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the head of an investigation by the Tigrayan authorities said on Thursday.  The UN World Food Programme and the US Agency for International Development paused food distribution last month in […]

UN agency joins US in suspending food aid to Ethiopia after diversions

Nairobi, Kenya Reuters The United Nations World Food Programme said on Friday it was temporarily halting its food aid assistance in Ethiopia due to the widespread theft of donations, a day after the United States announced it was doing the same. More than 20 million people need food aid in Africa’s second most-populous nation, largely […]

Rohingya protest in Bangladesh, demand repatriation to Myanmar

Rohingya refugees gather at the Kutupalong Refugee Camp to mark the fifth anniversary of their fleeing from neighbouring Myanmar to escape a military crackdown in 2017, in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on 25th August, 2022.

Dhaka, BangladeshReuters Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh protested on Thursday, demanding to be repatriated to Myanmar, so that they could leave the squalid camps they have lived in since fleeing a brutal military crackdown in their homeland in 2017. More than a million Rohingya have been crammed into the camps in southeastern […]