The United Nations has warned that life-saving food aid for over half a million refugees and vulnerable Cameroonians could end by August’s close. The World Food Programme (WFP), already scaling back operations as resources vanish, currently supports 523,000 people with critical food assistance nationwide.
In eastern Cameroon’s Gado Camp, refugees now receive only half their daily food rations, forcing families to skip meals or sell belongings. Earlier in July, WFP halted aid for 26,000 refugees in Minawao camp, leaving thousands exposed to hunger amid worsening humanitarian strains.
“We have reached a critical tipping point,” said Gianluca Ferrera, WFP’s country director in Cameroon, urging urgent global attention and fresh funding. “Without immediate funding, children will go hungry, families will suffer, and lives will be lost,” Ferrera warned in his stark statement.
The UN body needs \$65.5 million to sustain aid until January 2026, a sum still far from being secured by donors. Between June and August, 2.6 million Cameroonians faced acute food insecurity, marking a six percent rise compared with last year.
Violence and conflict continue to drive displacement, with refugees fleeing the Lake Chad basin, Cameroon’s northwest and southwest, and neighbouring CAR’s instability. Last year, Cameroon ranked as the world’s most neglected displacement crisis, overtaking Burkina Faso, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council’s grim report.
The WFP’s plea underscores a fragile humanitarian lifeline, one now hanging by a thread as desperation grows across Cameroon’s sprawling refugee camps. If support falters, the hunger crisis will deepen, leaving a nation already burdened by conflict and displacement confronting an unforgiving humanitarian abyss.
