Contribution from Germany supports WFP food assistance in Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria

WFP will use the German funds to provide each beneficiary with a monthly food ration that includes cereals (rice, barley and wheat flour), pulses, vegetable oil, sugar and fortified blended foods. A part of the contribution will be used to feed more than 40,000 children in camp schools. Each child receives a mid-morning snack at school that includes nutritious biscuits and milk to fight short-term hunger.

“Germany is a vital WFP partner and is one of the top donors to our operations worldwide,” said WFP Representative and Country Director in Algeria Romain Sirois. “WFP is very grateful to the people and Government of Germany for their continued support. Germany has been contributing €1 million every year over the past four years, helping WFP maintain uninterrupted food assistance in the camps.”

For more than 40 years, the Sahrawi have been living under extremely harsh conditions in the Sahara Desert in southwestern Algeria. Hosted in five refugee camps, near the Algerian town of Tindouf, refugee families rely primarily on WFP assistance for their food needs as employment and livelihood opportunities are limited.

“Media reports little about the situation of Sahrawi refugees in Tindouf in Algeria. It is an almost forgotten humanitarian crisis,” said Ulrike Knotz, German Ambassador to Algeria. “Germany continues to be engaged (in providing humanitarian assistance). Together with our humanitarian partner organizations, we are working towards improving the situation of the refugees in Algeria. The work done by the World Food Programme (WFP) is very important to us.”

WFP has been supporting refugees from Western Sahara in Algeria since 1986. All WFP assistance in Algeria is carried out and monitored in collaboration with national and international organizations to ensure the assistance reaches the people for whom it is intended.

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The United Nations World Food Programme - saving lives in emergencies and changing lives for millions through sustainable development. WFP works in more than 80 countries around the world, feeding people caught in conflict and disasters, and laying the foundations for a better future.

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