The UN World Food Program has said a shortage of donations has forced it to cut food rations for more than a million people uprooted by a vicious 2-decade civil war in northern Uganda. The WFP provides emergency food to 1.3 million people displaced by fighting between the government and Lord's Resistance Army rebels. Many are unable to till fields around their camps for fear of attack by marauding guerrillas.

The WFP was forced to reduce the individual food aid package for the displaced to just 40% of the minimum daily energy requirement, warning of an imminent rise in malnutrition figures, particularly for those under 5 years old. Those deprived of aid may be forced into unsafe areas in search of alternative sustenance, more children would drop out of school, and more women and girls would be forced into prostitution to survive, the agency warned. The WFP also said it had cut some food aid to 182,000 Sudanese refugees still in Uganda.

Main Source: Reuters