The plight of refugees and internally displaced persons in East Africa will be exacerbated by rising food prices caused by the war in Ukraine, the United Nations (UN) warned on Wednesday.

"The conflict in Ukraine will cause a collateral wave of famine by further exacerbating existing problems, such as record food prices," the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned in a joint statement.

WFP and UNHCR stressed that millions of displaced families in East Africa "will be plunged into hunger as the quantities of available food rations dwindle because humanitarian resources are stretched to the limit."

The rising cost of food and fuel comes on top of pre-existing problems such as conflict, the climate crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic and when over 70% of refugees in need of assistance are no longer receiving a full ration due to funding shortages.

"Refugees and IDPs are at the center of food ration cuts, exacerbating an already desperate situation for millions of people uprooted from their homes and often dependent on help to survive," said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, director of UNHCR's regional office for East Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes.

In addition, floods and droughts are becoming more frequent and intense worldwide and are severely affecting countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan, worsening food insecurity.

"The unfortunate reality is that East Africa faces a year of unprecedented humanitarian needs," said Michael Dunford, WFP's regional director for that region of the African continent.

"The growing needs here are a reflection of what we see happening around the world, and we implore the world not to turn its back on this region and in particular the extremely vulnerable refugee communities who have limited access to livelihoods and depend on WFP for survival," the official added.

In the last decade, the number of refugees in East Africa has nearly tripled, from 1.82 million in 2012 to nearly 5 million today, including 300,000 new refugees in 2021 alone, according to UN figures.

Moreover, as UNHCR and WFP have pointed out, the growth in the number of refugees has not been matched by an increase in resources.

Source: NM