Ethiopian Informer
By: Habtamu Worku
ADDIS ABABA: July 16 (Ethiopian Informer) — The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday received 16,000 metric tons of rice from the Republic of Korea to support refugees and Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Ethiopia.
The humanitarian donation from the government of South Korea, which is worth 13 million U.S. dollars, “comes at a critical time as the organization faces a serious funding shortfall to continue its humanitarian activities in Ethiopia mainly for refugees and internally displaced people,’ the WFP said during the handover ceremony on Tuesday.
“WFP is grateful to the government of the Republic of Korea for this timely contribution,” said Steven Were Omamo, WFP Country Director in Ethiopia.
“The contribution is very important to help us provide food to refugees and internally displaced people,” Omamo added.
The donation from South Korea is said to help WFP’s humanitarian support to some 175,200 refugees and internally displaced people in Ethiopia’s Afar, Somali and Oromia regional states until September 2019, it was noted.
The government of South Korea, over the past two years period, has made in kind donations to WFP Ethiopia worth 25 million U.S. dollars during.
Park Il, Charge d’affaires of the South Korean Embassy in Ethiopia, who reiterated the Korean government’s recognition to the needs and challenges in supporting IDPs and refugees, also reaffirmed his country’s continued support to Ethiopia.
“The Korean government recognises the needs and challenges in supporting IDPs and refugees,” said Park, adding that “As a strong development cooperation partner of Ethiopia, the Republic of Korea is committed to addressing food insecurity among vulnerable communities in the country.”
Ethiopia presently hosts close to one million refugees in Ethiopia seeking emergency humanitarian assistance as they fled from Ethiopia’s neighbouring countries that are Eritrea, South Sudan, Somalia and Sudan, of which some 700,000 are receiving food assistance from the WFP.
