UN World Food Program to cut food aid for over 1 million people in
Myanmar
[March 14, 2025]
BANGKOK (AP) — The United Nations food agency said on
Friday that more than 1 million people in the war-torn nation of Myanmar
will be cut off from food assistance due to critical funding shortfalls.
A statement released by the World Food Program said that most food
rations currently distributed in Myanmar will be cut off in April, as
the country faces a desperate humanitarian crisis caused by bitter
fighting between the military government and powerful militias opposed
to its rule. The WFP said would need $60 million to continue food
assistance in Myanmar and called on its partners to identify additional
funding.
It was not immediately clear if the WFP’s decision was directly related
to Trump administration's recent moves to stop most foreign aid and
dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, which have had
wide-ranging effects on humanitarian efforts around the globe.
A 90-day freeze on foreign assistance programs announced by U.S.
President Donald Trump has led to other cuts in services for refugees
from war-torn Myanmar, including the shutdown of hospital care in camps
in neighboring Thailand where more than 100,000 are living, according to
activists and Thai officials.
The nationwide armed conflict in Myanmar began after the army ousted the
elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and suppressed
widespread nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule.
In Friday’s statement, the WFP said 15.2 million people, nearly
one-third of the total population, are unable to meet their minimum
daily food needs and some 2.3 million face emergency levels of hunger.
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The WFP said it will only be able to assist 35,000 of the most
vulnerable people, including children under the age of 5, pregnant
and breastfeeding women, and people living with disabilities.
“The impending cuts will have a devastating impact on the most
vulnerable communities across the country, many of whom depend
entirely on WFP’s support to survive,” said Michael Dunford, WFP’s
Representative and Country Director in Myanmar. “WFP remains
steadfast in its commitment to support the people of Myanmar, but
more immediate funding is crucial to continue reaching those in
need.”
The WFP said the cuts will also impact almost 100,000 internally
displaced people, including Rohingya communities in camps in
Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine, who will have no access to food
without WFP assistance.
The Rohingya, a Muslim minority, have long been persecuted in
Buddhist-majority Myanmar. More than 700,000 have fled from Myanmar
to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the military
launched a clearance operation against the minority in response to
attacks by a rebel group.
More than 600,000 Rohingya remain in Myanmar, confined to squalid
displacement camps, in addition to those living in crowded refugee
camps in Bangladesh. Still more have fled toward Bangladesh and
elsewhere in recent months as violence surged again when a group
called the Arakan Army started fighting against Myanmar’s security
forces.
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