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WFP slashes rations in Angola

5th April 2004

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A lack of funding is forcing the World Food Programme (WFP) to slash its food rations to almost two million people in Angola by half, the aid agency said Friday.

"WFP's operations in Angola face a severe funding crisis, which has forced the agency to drastically reduce rations," a statement released in Johannesburg said.

"In April and May, WFP will provide 50 percent rations to ... the vast majority of WFP's 1.9 million beneficiaries."

Without additional funding, the WFP will not be able to provide any cereal, a main food component in its rations, to these beneficiaries in June and July, the agency added.

The organisation will only be able to give full rations to 45,000 children instead of the 200,000 it had originally planned to assist this year.

"While beneficiaries are unlikely to starve, the reduced rations will certainly increase their vulnerability and make the task of rebuilding their lives and livelihoods even more arduous and risky."

The situation has been exacerbated by an announcement by the Angolan government that it would ban the importation of genetically modified (GM) food.

About 75 percent of the maize donated to the WFP in Angola comes from the United States which does not distinguish between GM and non-GM food in its donations.

"WFP was going to cut by 30 percent in April and May due to the funding crisis, but the agency will now (following the GM food ban) provide only half rations to most beneficiaries," the statement said.

Angola in April 2002 emerged from a brutal 27-year civil war which had raged almost continuously since the oil country's independence from Portugal in 1975, leaving its infrastructure and food production capacity in tatters - Sapa-AFP.

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