News releases

ERBIL, IRAQ – As the exodus continues of Syrians into the Kurdistan region of Iraq, the leaders of the UN refugee agency and the World Food Programme paid tribute to the government here for giving refuge to almost 200,000 people, including some 47,000 arriving in the last two weeks. Despite the strain of accommodating such a large number, the regional authorities have opened their border and offered land to accommodate refugees in camps.

(The following news release was issued jointly by WFP and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)

ERBIL, IRAQ – A chartered flight has arrived in Erbil carrying urgent relief items for the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of Syrian refugees fleeing violence in Syria and crossing into northern Iraq.

SANA’A – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed the arrival of a consignment of wheat from the government of the United States of America that WFP will distribute to 3.9 million food-insecure people in 15 governorates.

This year the rainy season in Mali has started late which may affect the harvest. Mali is just emerging from the 2011 food crisis and last year’s conflict which displaced many hundreds of thousands. The World Food Programme is assisting the farmers in Segou, some 200 kilometres northeast of the capital, Bamako

NIAMEY – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a contribution of €15.5 million (US$20.5 million) from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO) to address both the food security and nutritional condition of the most vulnerable households in Niger.

DOHUK – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomed today a generous contribution of €10 million (US$13.3 million) from the Government of Germany that will help provide critical food assistance to thousands of vulnerable Syrian refugees in Iraq and neighbouring countries.

KHARTOUM – New violence in Sudan’s western region of Darfur has prompted more than 250,000 people to flee their villages and abandon their livelihoods since the start of the year, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said today.

JUBA – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is launching an operation including the use of helicopters to bring urgently-needed food assistance to tens of thousands of people who have fled to hard-to-reach areas to escape violence in Pibor County, in the Republic of South Sudan’s Jonglei State.

KHARTOUM – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed another generous contribution towards its operations in Sudan from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO).

ADDIS ABABA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has launched its first cash distributions to refugees in Ethiopia this month, with the financial support of the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO).

If conflict continues, Syria’s food prospects will be seriously at risk in 2014, joint FAO/WFP report finds

TEHRAN – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today warmly welcomed a contribution from the Government of France for its refugee operation in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

ROME/VATICAN CITY – His Holiness Pope Francis this morning granted a private audience to Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The meeting took place immediately upon Cousin’s return from Syria and following her recent visit to Israel and Palestine.

KABUL – The World Food Programme (WFP) today announced a contribution of 10 million British Pounds (more than 15 million US dollars) from the UK’s development agency DFID to its programmes in Afghanistan. The donation will enable WFP reach up to 535,000 people with 17,000 metric tons of food, including wheat and wheat flour, pulses such as split peas and salt. This food will be distributed in emergencies to victims of conflict and natural disasters, as well as helping WFP implement projects to prevent and treat acute malnutrition.

GAZIANTEP – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has received a generous contribution of €15 million (US$20 million) from the Government of Germany that will help provide critical food assistance to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who fled the fighting in Syria. The latest contribution brings total German support to WFP’s Syria emergency operations to close to €25 million (US$33 million).

DAMASCUS – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has distributed urgent food aid to vulnerable families in Al-Qusayr where some of the heaviest fighting in Syria has taken place in recent weeks. Meanwhile the United Nations today announced projected financial costs for the humanitarian operation totalling US$4.4 billion; this figure represents the escalating needs just for the balance of 2013. The WFP share of this appeal, US$1 billion, will provide food assistance for the growing refugee population outside Syria as well as the increasing numbers of those inside the country without access to food.

KHARTOUM – The United Nations World Food Programme today welcomed a United States Government contribution of lentils, sorghum and oil fortified with vitamin A which will be used to assist close to four million vulnerable people across the country including over 1.4 million displaced people in Darfur.

NOUAKCHOTT- Tens of thousands of Malians living in Mauritania’s M’bera refugee camp will not be returning home in the near future and will rely on humanitarian assistance for many months to come, a new UN assessment mission concluded.

DAMASCUS – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Amir Abdulla today wrapped up a two-day visit to Syria to oversee the agency’s plans to scale up operations to feed three million people in July and see first-hand the plight of families fleeing from the fighting.

KABUL – Thousands of the poorest Afghan families will be able to break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan with an evening serving of delicious, nutritious dates thanks to a contribution from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

SANA’A – The United Nations World Food Programme today welcomed a 340 metric ton donation of dates, worth more than US$680,000, from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

DAMASCUS – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has started distribution of emergency ready-t0-eat food rations and high-energy biscuits to thousands of newly displaced families who were forced to flee Banias and surrounding villages on Syria’s Mediterranean coast to Tartous city following heavy fighting in their villages.

ROME – Amid mounting concern about the deepening suffering caused by conflict in Syria, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a generous contribution from the Government of the United Kingdom of £28.3 million (around US$43 million) that will help provide much-needed food assistance to tens of thousands of Syrians both inside and outside their country.

Copenhagen/Oslo – Responding to the continuing challenges in Niger and the Sahel, the Government of Norway has announced an additional contribution of NOK 25 million to the United Nations World Food Programme’s activities in Niger.