(RoyalPatriot.com )- Last weekend, the United Nations announced that its World Food Program received $41 million in emergency aid for Mozambique from the US government and that the US would also be purchasing 150,000 metric tons of Ukrainian grain to ship to African countries facing drought and starvation.
Pierre Lucas, the deputy director of the World Food Program in Mozambique said the contribution from the US will enable the WFP to provide “a complete basket of foodstuffs” from October to December, averting a humanitarian crisis. He said an additional $43.5 million would be needed again by March to provide emergency assistance to “conflict-displaced” people in Mozambique.
The country has been facing a vicious insurgency from a group linked to the Islamic State, with the most intense fighting located in the gas-rich coastal province of Cabo Delgado.
The fighting around Cabo Delgado has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians. While some began returning to their villages in the spring, many remain in refugee camps.
In June, the Biden Administration announced a $14 million a year effort to rebuild the region, including job training programs to prevent the insurgents from recruiting unemployed young people.
Ah, yes. The old “terrorists just need jobs” strategy of the Obama administration is back.
According to David Beasley, the Executive Director of the World Food Program, the US grain purchases from Ukraine are expected to begin shipping over the news few weeks under an agreement with Moscow to reopen Ukrainian ports for food shipments.
Before Russia invaded, Ukraine was a major supplier of the World Food Program’s grain.
Already, the WFP has commissioned one shipment of 23,000 metric tons from Ukraine to Africa. This shipment is earmarked for drought- and conflict-stricken regions of Ethiopia.
Beasley urged other countries to follow the lead of the US and donate food to Africa, calling specifically on China and the oil-rich Gulf states. He said the Gulf states refusing to help more when they are making “record-breaking” oil profits is “inexcusable.”
Beasley also pointed out that the World Food Program receives “diddly squat from China” despite it having the world’s second-largest economy.
