The EU is providing €750,000 (RWF 890m) in humanitarian funding to support vulnerable refugees from Burundi. This life-saving assistance is part of a larger package of €54.5 million in humanitarian funding for people affected by human-induced or natural disasters, epidemics, and displacement in the Great Lakes region of Africa.
The €750,000 in funding is being made available by the EU’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO to the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide food and nutritional assistance to Burundian refugees in Mahama camp in eastern Rwanda Following the adoption of the joint UNHCR-WFP targeting strategy and framework, this contribution and support from other donors will allow WFP to increase general food assistance to refugees, with a specific focus on the most vulnerable.
EU Head of Delegation to Rwanda, Ambassador Nicola Bellomo said “The EU is a leading supporter of refugees in Rwanda. We aim on the one hand to support the government and UN agencies in finding durable solutions for asylum seekers and refugees through our support to the Emergency Transit Mechanism and to the government’s implementation of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework. On the other hand we recognise the urgent food security needs of vulnerable refugees in Rwanda, exacerbated by the COVD-19 crisis.”
WFP Country Representative Edith Heines said “WFP is very grateful to the European Union for the generous contribution to support the food and nutrition needs of refugees in Mahama camp. This contribution along with support from other donors will allow WFP to stretch available resources for refugees until mid-November 2021 and thus reduce the negative impact that reductions in rations have had on refugees’ food and nutrition security”.
