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Web post shared by Niloufar Pourzand From Ian Richards Let us show solidarity with our colleagues at UNHCR and WFP as more devastating news emerges of job cuts.

The following was shared by Louis Mendez, saying: Nothing but dark clouds U.S. National Statement at the WFP Executive Board  February 18, 2025 As Prepared for Delivery The United States commends the World Food Program’s (WFP) commitment to providing lifesaving food assistance to the world’s most vulnerable. The United States’ relationship with the World Food Program is crucial for providing safe and accountable assistance to those in need.  And we recognize the courage and dedication of WFP staff, many of whom work in difficult situations around the globe, for their efforts. WFP’s footprint and core logistical capabilities are the backbone to respond to the world’s complex needs.

The United Nations said on Tuesday that one of its staff members had died in detention in northern Yemen, where the U.N. has repeatedly called for the Houthi movement to free detained U.N. employees. The U.N. World Food Programme did not specify when or how its employee, who it said had been detained on January 23 with six others, had died.

UN humanitarian officials have warned that urgent action is needed to prevent the escalating conflict in Lebanon from spiralling into a similar scene of devastation that has resulted from Israel’s war on Gaza.

Article shared by Lou Mendez WFP is investigating two senior officials in Sudan over allegations of fraud and concealing information from donors about its ability to deliver food aid. The officials, Khalid Osman and Mohammed Ali, are suspected of misleading donors about the Sudanese army's role in blocking aid deliveries and the disappearance of 200,000 liters of WFP fuel. Osman, who has been suspended, had high-level army connections and may have used his position to limit access and scrutiny of the army's management of aid. Ali is being investigated in connection with the missing fuel. Both officials have declined to comment. Click here for the article in Reuters Excerpts: "WFP deputy country director Osman allegedly hid from donors that authorities aligned with the army in Port Sudan had refused to give permission for 15 trucks to carry life-saving aid to Nyala in South Darfur, an area that includes communities at risk of famine. The trucks waited for seven weeks before...

In early June we reported on the arrest of 13 UN staff by Houthi authorities in Yemen. These arrests followed on earlier cases in which other staff had been held - the numbers are stated by various sources to range from 2 to 4 staff, some of whom have been held since 2021. The latest arrests included one UNICEF staff member, six from UN Human Rights, and one each from the Office of the Special Envoy in Yemen (OSESGY), UNDP, WFP, WHO and two from UNESCO. In addition to the 13 UN staff, 4 staff of international NGOs were arrested. Subsequent reports indicated that up to 70 staff of local NGOs and civil society organizations have also been detained.

Excerpt: "Bauer’s illuminating account of his 20 years working with the World Food Program, for which he has led country offices in Haiti and the Republic of Congo in addition to serving in the western Sahel and central Africa, and responding to crises in Afghanistan and Syria. The book is a close-up look at efforts to vanquish hunger amid both major, front-page disasters, such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the Syrian civil war, and the countless lower-profile calamities that are documented on the inside pages, if at all. The theme linking the landscapes of want depicted by Bauer is straightforward: Hunger is almost always the product of political decisions, whether the immediate cause is violent conflict, misguided trade and aid policies, or discrimination against minorities and lower castes. The downside of this reality is that humans are constantly engaged in “forces that lay the groundwork for hunger.” The upside is that hunger should, in theory, be largely avoidable. “By m...

  Crowds mob aid trucks WFP has warned that the new floating pier installed by the US military as an alternate aid route for Gaza may fail unless Israel can ensure safe movements from the pier to warehouses.  Following Israel's closure of the Rafah border and the only occasional ability to move through alternate entry points, the floating pier was seen as the only viable route.  The first aid trucks moved from the pier on Friday, but trucks on subsequent days were mobbed by people desperate for food.  Movements were then suspended on Sunday and Monday.  UN agencies have said that even if the route from the floating pier were working, it could only provide a fraction of the food supplies needed for Gaza.  Click here for the article in AP News

People, desperate and hungry, surround WFP convoy Excerpt: " This weekend the WFP had hoped to begin a week-long delivery, sending 10 lorries each day to help "stem the tide of hunger and desperation". But on Sunday, as a convoy neared the Wadi Gaza checkpoint on its way north, it was "surrounded by crowds of hungry people" with "multiple attempts by people to climb aboard" and then on entering Gaza City faced gunfire, "high tension and explosive anger". Additionally, several lorries driving between the southern city of Khan Younis and the central town of Deir al-Balah had been looted and a driver beaten. The WFP said over the past two days its teams had "witnessed unprecedented levels of desperation" in the Gaza Strip." Click here for the article in BBC News

A clash has emerged between the US, Israel and the SG over the future of UNRWA. The US and Israel have lobbied for other major UN agencies like WFP and UNICEF to absorb some of UNRWA's key functions in Gaza. This reflects mounting concerns in Washington that UNRWA's financial lifeline from the US Congress is at risk of being severed. The SG believes dismantling UNRWA would be disastrous, given the extreme humanitarian crisis in Gaza. He has privately told heads of other UN agencies not to take any steps to undermine UNRWA by poaching staff or planning contingency operations. Guterres argues UNRWA has unique capabilities and reach within Gaza that no other agency can readily replace. Tom Click here for the full article on DEVEX Click here for shorter summary on DEVEX Summary: - The US and Israel are pushing for other UN agencies like WFP and UNICEF to take over some functions currently handled by UNRWA, the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees. This reflects concerns that...

As the risk of famine grows, and more people are exposed to deadly disease outbreaks, a fundamental step change in the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza is urgently needed, United Nations agencies warned today.

Cindy McCain (and yes, Lou is her real middle name) has worn many hats over her lifetime. Her latest is as the embattled leader of a critically important, but critically wounded U.N. aid agency.

Article shared by Niloufar Pourzand Cindy McCain at Halifax Security Mtg Cindy McCain, head of the World Food Program, held an emotional online meeting on November 30th with some of her Middle East staff regarding intense criticisms of her perceived pro-Israeli bias in responses to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. Staff called the exchange "extraordinarily raw and unvarnished", exposing a "potentially insurmountable divide" between McCain and frontline humanitarians trying to save lives amid hellish conditions in Gaza.

WFP chief Cindy McCain is facing calls from her agency’s rank and file to step down, as staff have circulated a letter to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, U.S. President Joe Biden, and WFP’s executive board demanding her immediate resignation for her response, or lack thereof, to the crisis in Gaza.

A new letter circulating among World Food Program employees is questioning the ethics of Cindy McCain, the program’s executive director, after she attended a forum honoring the people of Israel recently. See the original article on PassBlue See also Canadian security forum honors The letter reflects the intensifying controversies hitting the United Nations over the Israel Defense Forces’ disproportionate bombardment of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza in response to Hamas’s massacre of Oct. 7. The controversies include the IDF’s assaults on UN facilities sheltering civilians in the war. As of Nov. 20, 104 staffers, all Palestinians, working for the UN’s Relief and Works Agency ( Unrwa ) have been killed in the war. Their deaths were marked in a global UN ceremony on Nov. 13. Since Nov. 11, after services and communications at hospitals in Gaza’s north collapsed, the enclave’s Ministry of Health has not updated casualty figures. Its reported fatality toll as of Nov. 10 was 11,078, of...

Children in Gaza, on Nov. 13, 2023. Photo by: Anadolu via Reuters Connect Click here for the original article Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF , visited Gaza this week in a show of solidarity with the agency’s staff, who have endured weeks of Israeli bombardment and the death of family members. She got a rough reception.

Dr. Rick Brennan, WHO GENEVA, Oct 24 (Reuters) - United Nations agencies called "on our knees" on Tuesday for aid to be allowed unimpeded into Gaza, saying more than 20 times current deliveries were needed to support its Palestinian population after two weeks of Israeli air strikes . U.N. organisations have been making increasingly desperate appeals since Israel imposed a full blockade on the coastal strip and began bombardments to root out Hamas militants who had killed civilians in a bloody raid into southern Israel. Trucks of aid began moving into Gaza from Egypt on Saturday after intense diplomatic efforts, but the agencies say they are far from enough. Half of the enclave's 2.3 million people are homeless, many people have been wounded and food and clean water is in short supply. "The aid which resumed from Egypt over the weekend is a mere drop in the ocean of what is needed," said Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for...

People flee their homes amid Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip, October 8, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa  U.N. agency says humanitarian access needed to get food to Gaza The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) called on Sunday for the creation of humanitarian corridors to bring food into Gaza as Israeli air strikes pounded the Palestinian enclave following deadly Hamas attacks. "As the conflict intensifies, civilians, including vulnerable children and families, face mounting challenges in accessing essential food supplies," the Rome-based WFP said. "WFP urges safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to affected areas, calling on all parties to uphold the principles of humanitarian law ... including ensuring access to food." The U.N. agency provides direct food assistance to some 350,000 Palestinians monthly, while also offering aid to nearly 1 million Palestinians in cooperation with other humanitarian partners via cash transfers. WFP said it was...

Hsiao-Wei Lee, Afghanistan country director for World Food Programme (WFP) UN food agency cuts rations to 2 million Afghans as funds dry up By Charlotte Greenfield September 5,  The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) had to cut rations to another 2 million Afghans this month and is warning of a "catastrophic" winter if funding runs out with little food for remote communities in place, the agency's country director said. The cut in rations comes amidst growing alarm over shrinking aid for Afghanistan, where a U.N. humanitarian response plan is only about a quarter funded, even after the budget was downgraded in the face of funding shortfalls. WFP funding for food and cash assistance is expected to run out by the end of October and the agency has had to steadily cut assistance through the year to 10 million Afghans. The positioning of food to areas that will be cut off in winter has also been limited. The WFP said if no funding comes through, 90% of remote areas in need will ...