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afrol News, 27 June - he UN World Food Programme (WFP) yesterday appealed for an urgent infusion of US$ 241 million to help feed a growing number of hungry people in Angola as food supplies for the country were rapidly dwindling. Before a ceasefire agreement signed on 4 April dramatically improved security and access, hundreds of thousands of people were completely isolated and inaccessible to humanitarian agencies because of years of conflict, the UN agency reported. Since then, there had been a sharp increase in demand, putting even more pressure on the need for food aid, and current WFP food stocks were to run out by September for the more than one million people being fed. That number was to rise rapidly to 1.5 million people before the end of the year, which also included the hundreds of thousands of Angolan refugees expected to return home from neighbouring countries. - Many people, especially women and children, are in extremely poor condition, according to WFP. "They will face starvation unless food supplies are urgently increased," the UN reports. Over recent weeks, WFP had also started feeding an extra "120,000 desperately hungry people" who were until recently completely cut off from aid due to the war, including families of former rebel soldiers being demobilised across the country in some 34 quartering areas. While WFP feeds the children, women, elderly and physically disabled, the Angolan government had taken the responsibility of giving aid to the former soldiers themselves. WFP food aid distributions were also being quickly expanded as a result of assessment missions carried out in 28 locations between April and May to identify the immediate needs of the population. Sources: Based on WFP and afrol archives
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