UN World Food Program to cut food aid for over 1 million people in Myanmar

A security officer walks outside the headquarters of the United Nations World Food Program, in Rome, Friday, Oct. 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) (AP)

BANGKOK — The United Nations food agency said on Friday that more than 1 million people in the war-torn nation of Myanmar will be cut off from food assistance due to critical funding shortfalls.

A statement released by the World Food Program said that most food rations currently distributed in Myanmar will be cut off in April, even as the country faces a desperate humanitarian crisis caused by bitter fighting between the military government and powerful militias opposed to its rule. The WFP said it would need $60 million to continue food assistance in Myanmar and called on its partners to identify additional funding.

It was not immediately clear if the WFP’s decision was directly related to the Trump administration’s recent moves to stop most foreign aid and dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, which have had wide-ranging effects on humanitarian efforts around the globe.

A 90-day freeze on foreign assistance programs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump has led to other cuts in services for refugees from Myanmar, including the shutdown of hospital care in camps in neighboring Thailand where more than 100,000 are living, according to activists and Thai officials.

The U.S. has been a “core contributor in the food security and livelihood sector in Myanmar,” and there was already a shortfall last year with humanitarian needs only about 40% funded, said a senior leader in the aid sector based in Asia, who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the issue.

The new cuts, she said, have created a “devastating situation,” forcing NGOs to abandon many programs, hitting vulnerable populations like people with disabilities, women and children the hardest, she said.

“The lifesaving work must continue,” she said. “It’s just not possible for us to stop that because if we stop it means people will not survive. But the funding gap we’re facing has forced us to close programs that are the lifeline, I think, for many people, in Myanmar.”

The nationwide armed conflict in Myanmar began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and suppressed widespread nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule.

In Friday’s statement, the WFP said 15.2 million people, nearly one-third of the total population, are unable to meet their minimum daily food needs, and some 2.3 million face emergency levels of hunger.

The WFP said it will only be able to assist 35,000 of the most vulnerable people, including children under the age of 5, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and people living with disabilities.

“The impending cuts will have a devastating impact on the most vulnerable communities across the country, many of whom depend entirely on WFP’s support to survive,” said Michael Dunford, WFP’s Representative and Country Director in Myanmar. “WFP remains steadfast in its commitment to support the people of Myanmar, but more immediate funding is crucial to continue reaching those in need.”

The WFP said the cuts will also impact almost 100,000 internally displaced people, including Rohingya communities in camps in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine, who will have no access to food without WFP assistance.

The Rohingya, a Muslim minority, have long been persecuted in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. More than 700,000 have fled from Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the military launched a clearance operation against the minority in response to attacks by a rebel group.

More than 600,000 Rohingya remain in Myanmar, confined to squalid displacement camps, in addition to those living in crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh. Still, more have fled toward Bangladesh and elsewhere in recent months as violence surged again when a group called the Arakan Army started fighting against Myanmar’s security forces.

By David Rising