The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced an additional humanitarian assistance worth $6.5 million (approximately Rwf5.6bn) to provide food assistance for refugees in the country.

According to an announcement made over the weekend, the assistance will go to the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) for general food distributions.

The additional assistance brings the total humanitarian assistance for refugees in Rwanda to $10 million this fiscal year.

Since early this year, 25 per cent of food aid designated to refugees in Rwanda was reduced due to a decline in donations, by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

The reduction affected levels of feeding for pregnant and lactating women and children under two years old, and increased numbers of malnourished children under five years-old.

Currently, Rwanda hosts roughly 75,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and 90,000 from Burundi. All of these live in six camps and urban areas.

The Government of Rwanda, in collaboration with several partners, has worked to cub refugees’ dependence on humanitarian assistance by giving them vocational trainings, especially the youth.

However, a bigger number of them are highly dependent on humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs as access to land and income-generating opportunities remains limited.

The US also called upon other donors to step forward and ensure that basic life-saving needs of refugees and the communities that host them are addressed.

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