2006/04/28

UN agency cuts Darfur refugees' rations

I was saddened to hear todaythat the UN plans to cut individual food rations to six million people sheltering from violence in Sudan by half, saying it cannot afford to give them all a proper daily ration.

The UN's World Food Program (WFP) is cutting daily rations to an average of just 1,050 calories per person, half a normal daily diet tally of 2,100.

The WFP cannot afford to buy more food because donor countries have slashed their donations this year to only $238 million US, or 32 per cent of the $746 million US that the program said it needs in Sudan this year. Canada is among the countries which have slashed funding for emergency food aid in Sudan. Last year, it gave over $20 million. This year the figure is just over $5 million.

What does it say about Western society when we are spending billions in Iraq just to satisfy a blood-thirsty President's lust for war and letting hundreds of thousands starve in Darfur?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a sad comment on the priorities of the world's developed countries and the lack of value for human lives on the african continent.

Anonymous said...

The West has its values all screwed up. Bush is expending billions and thousands of lives to achieve regime change in Iraq. To what end? What is he doing to help the refugees in Darfur?