The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has received US$41 million from the United States government to cover emergency humanitarian aid in Mozambique, particularly in the north, where it is assisting over 900,000 people, mostly displaced from their homes by terrorist raids.

The US aid will allow the WFP to reinstate the delivery of a complete humanitarian basket of goods and services to 900,000 people. Since April, the basket had been reduced by half, when the WFP was running out of money to face the crisis in Cabo Delgado province.

The WFP deputy director in Mozambique, Pierre Lucas, confirmed the additional aid in an interview with AIM. "Due to the recent contributions from the United States, the WFP will once more be able to offer a complete basket of foodstuffs, from October to December, to avert a humanitarian crisis", he said.

But much more will be needed to feed people displaced by the jihadists next year. Lucas said a further US$43.5 million will be needed by March 2023 to guarantee emergency assistance to the neediest people in northern Mozambique, "Without additional new funds, we shall run out of money in the first quarter of 2023, precisely at the start of the period of shortages, when the food reserves become exhausted" he added.

Recently the Japanese government donated US$3.9 million to the WFP in Mozambique to tackle food insecurity in communities affected by drought in the south, and households displaced by violence in the north.

According to a release from the Japanese embassy in Maputo, US$2.4 million will support the WFP in providing food and humanitarian assistance to over 35,100 people displaced by the jihadist violence in Cabo Delgado, and the remaining US$1.5 million will respond to the overall food security crisis caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.