Abidjan — The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday welcomed the first private donation in response to an international appeal in late August for Western Sahara refugees.

In a joint news release on Friday, the UN agencies said they had received US $100,000, which they would use to purchase food and other vital needs for some 155,000 Western Sahara refugees living in camps along the border with Algeria.

The donation was made by the film actress Angelina Jolie, who is a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR.

On 29 August, the agencies warned that a funding shortfall was threatening the survival of the refugees and that, without a new infusion of funds by October, malnutrition could become widespread.

Close to half of the children among the refugee population already suffered from malnutrition, the agencies stated, and Friday's donation would have to be followed by others to bridge the funding gap.

In August, WFP said it needed $3.7 million for food needs, while UNHCR had received $1.5 million in financial pledges (well down on the stated requirement of $4.6 million) for operations in four remote camps.

Most of the refugees fled Western Sahara in 1975 after Spain, the colonial power, pulled out and Morocco annexed it, prompting the armed Polisario Front to declare a war of independence.

Polisario named the territory the Sahraoui Arab Democratic Republic. The UN has been trying to broker a peace agreement between Morocco and the Polisario since 1991.