Syrians to Lose WFP Food Assistance in January

Bulent Kilic, AFP | A Syrian Kurdish woman crosses the border between Syria and Türkiye on September 23.
Bulent Kilic, AFP | A Syrian Kurdish woman crosses the border between Syria and Türkiye on September 23.
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Syrians to Lose WFP Food Assistance in January

Bulent Kilic, AFP | A Syrian Kurdish woman crosses the border between Syria and Türkiye on September 23.
Bulent Kilic, AFP | A Syrian Kurdish woman crosses the border between Syria and Türkiye on September 23.

Food assistance across Syria will end in January due to a funding crunch that had already curtailed its aid program in the war devastated country, the World Food Program (WFP)said on Monday.
The organization said a record level of humanitarian needs globally meant its donors are unable to provide the same level of support, Reuters said.
In September, WFP officials had warned that it required $134 million to provide food assistance for the next six months to combat hunger and malnutrition in 3.2 million people in Syria. In previous years, the organization had fed 5.5 million.
The UN food body says over 12 million Syrians were in the grip of hunger in a country that had already significantly cut aid in recent years.
The WFP however said it would continue to support families affected by natural disasters through smaller programs alongside maintaining some child nutrition and livelihood support schemes for farmers.
Over the last 10 years, WFP said it had spent $3 billion on delivering 4.8 million metric tons of food and over $300 million in cash-based assistance and $800 million in goods and services.



France Declines to Comment on Algeria’s Anger over Recognition of Morocco’s Claim over Sahara

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
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France Declines to Comment on Algeria’s Anger over Recognition of Morocco’s Claim over Sahara

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)

Paris declined to comment on Algeria’s “strong condemnation” of the French government’s decision to recognize Morocco’s claim over the Sahara.

The office of the French Foreign Ministry refused to respond to an AFP request for a comment on the Algeria’s stance.

It did say that further comments could impact the trip Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is set to make to France in late September or early October.

The visit has been postponed on numerous occasions over disagreements between the two countries.

France had explicitly expressed its constant and clear support for the autonomy rule proposal over the Sahara during Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne’s visit to Morocco in February, reported AFP.

The position has helped improve ties between Rabat and Paris.

On Thursday, the Algerian Foreign Ministry expressed “great regret and strong denunciation" about the French government's decision to recognize an autonomy plan for the Western Sahara region "within Moroccan sovereignty”.

Algeria was informed of the decision by France in recent days, an Algerian foreign ministry statement added.

The ministry also said Algeria would draw all the consequences from the decision and hold the French government alone completely responsible.