Food aid for one million refugees in Uganda has been cut off entirely this week, as the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) grapples with a deepening funding crisis. The abrupt halt has triggered widespread fear of starvation, instability, and forced repatriation across Africa’s largest refugee-hosting nation.
The WFP sounded the alarm weeks ago, urgently appealing for $50 million to continue supporting refugees escaping war and violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and Sudan. However, with international donors pulling back, the agency has now confirmed that it can no longer feed over half of Uganda’s refugee population.
“Due to severe funding shortages, @WFP_Uganda has cut 1 million refugees entirely off from food assistance,” the agency announced on social media. “Malnutrition has reached critical levels (15% +) in refugee reception centres, and general food rations have been cut by up to 80%.”
Uganda currently shelters 1.8 million refugees, many of whom rely exclusively on humanitarian assistance for survival. The country has received 60,000 new arrivals in just the past three months, further straining already stretched resources.
The cutbacks come on the heels of dramatic reductions in foreign aid. Uganda’s Minister for Refugees, Hillary Onek, pointed to sweeping aid cuts by the United States and Europe as the driving force behind the crisis. In particular, he cited former U.S. President Donald Trump’s January freeze on aid and the UK’s recent reduction of its foreign aid commitment from 0.58% to 0.3% of gross national income.
“Aid can’t be depended on any more,” Onek said bluntly. “Trump came and radically cut off funds to support refugee programmes. Other countries are not honouring their small contributions. WFP and UNHCR are in a total crisis because of lack of funding.”
Uganda’s Refugee Response Plan for 2024 required $858 million to operate, but as of now, only 46% of that has been secured.
UN officials are warning of the humanitarian consequences. The UNHCR, which launched an emergency appeal last month for $44 million to support incoming Congolese refugees, says the rapid influx is overwhelming basic services such as food, health, education, and sanitation. “These conditions have strained the already limited resources,” the agency reported.
On the ground, desperation is growing. In Bidi Bidi, one of the largest refugee camps in Africa, South Sudanese refugee Simon Okello voiced his despair.
“We are totally messed up. This has complicated our lives totally,” he said. “We have been surviving on food rations and coupons. How are we going to get food to eat now? People will starve and die.”
Okello warned that some refugees may be forced to return to war-torn countries or turn to illegal activities in search of food. “Without food now, people might be forced to go back to their home countries where we fled from or engage in illegal activities to get something to eat,” he said.
The Ugandan government is now weighing drastic policy shifts. Minister Onek revealed that the cabinet may soon consider forced repatriation for refugees from countries deemed “peaceful.”
“The other option available is that those refugees whose countries are peaceful, we should change our policies and make sure we force them to go back to their homes and leave us alone,” he stated.
Human rights organizations are deeply concerned. Dismas Nkunda, director of Atrocities Watch Africa, said the situation has been years in the making.
“We saw this coming,” Nkunda said. “It began with the self-reliance programme where UN bodies started to go slow on the provision of humanitarian assistance. Matters were not helped by the coming of Trump as president and his cuts in funding for the UN.”
Nkunda warned that Uganda may soon abandon its previously lauded refugee-friendly policies. “My fear is that host countries such as Uganda may be forced to become radical and reverse their otherwise good policies in hosting refugees,” he said.
As international humanitarian agencies scramble to respond, the fate of over a million vulnerable people now hangs in the balance.
