Posted on July, 16, 2019 at 10:37 am
BY SAMUEL NABWIISO
The Embassy of South Korea in Uganda has extended relief support of 5,000 metric tonnes of rice through the World Food Programme (WFP) to feed over 200,000 refugees in Uganda.
The relief support was handed over by the South Korean Ambassador to Uganda Ha Byung-Kyoo, at Nakivale refugee settlement in Isingiro district last week. The envoy said accessing to relief like food is important to the refugees’ lives.
“The Republic of Korea believes food relief is the first step in enabling refugees to restart their lives and embark on a journey toward self-reliance. Korean government and its people are deeply concerned about the suffering of women and children arriving in difficult humanitarian conditions,” he said.
The donation supports Uganda’s efforts to assist refugees who have fled conflict and hunger in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and other conflicting areas in the region such as Southern Sudan, Rwanda among other countries.
It will assist the refugees to cope with the initial pressures of displacement, while enabling them to rebuild their lives, and peacefully co-exist with their Ugandan communities.
WFP’s Country Director El-Khidir Daloum said WFP will use the Korean donation to provide food assistance to 213,000 refugees as part of their monthly food basket. The rice will help to diversify diets and improve nutrition among the most vulnerable refugees. The rice will replace maize in the July and August food assistance cycles in Kyaka II, Kyangwali, Nakivale, Oruchinga and Rwamwanja.
“This is an extremely welcome and generous gift,” he said in statement.
WFP is 100 percent voluntarily-funded organization, so every donation counts towards WFP being able to provide refugees with regular food assistance in support of Uganda’s refugee policy. This is the second rice donation WFP in Uganda has received from the Republic of Korea, having received 5,000 metric tons last year.
Uganda ranks among the countries in Africa with largest population of refuges on the continent, but this comes with many challenges among them is the challenge of feeding the refugees.
Source: East African Business Week (EABW)