WFP warns of impending starvation as aid cuts endanger millions in West Africa

AFRICA – The UN World Food Programme warns that without urgent funding of US$620 million, life-saving food and nutrition aid in the Central Sahel and Nigeria will stop by April 2025, affecting crisis-hit communities across West and Central Africa.

Armed conflict and inter-communal violence have rendered at least 2.8 million people internally displaced in the Central Sahel region – Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – including 2.1 million in Burkina Faso alone.

The groups driving conflict are further blocking humanitarian aid to civilians and causing starvation, imposing forced taxation and strategically destroying and looting civilian objects, including places of worship, health centres, food reserves and water services, among other violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

This combination of conflict, displacement, economic crises, and severe climate shocks has gradually contributed to the hunger crisis in West Africa.

However, despite the World Food Programme’s efforts to provide urgent assistance to the most vulnerable, the global reduction in foreign aid is now forcing it to suspend food and nutrition assistance for an estimated 2 million crisis-affected people by April 2025.

This move will impact the Sudanese refugees in Chad, Malian refugees in Mauritania, internally displaced persons, and vulnerable food-insecure families in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria.

Over 50 million people at risk of acute food insecurity
The latest Cadre Harmonisé regional food security analysis, released in December 2024, shows that Western Africa is experiencing an acute food security and nutrition crisis, with 52.7 million women, men, and children likely to experience acute hunger between June and August 2025.

Margot van der Velden, WFP’s Regional Director for Western Africa, warned, “With millions expected to face emergency levels of hunger at the peak of the lean season, the world must step up support to prevent this situation from getting out of control… Inaction will severely affect the region and beyond, as food security is national security.”

In Chad, the increase of refugees from Sudan is overwhelming the already limited resources, fueling tension and competition between communities, leading to congestion at sites near the border with Sudan. The country enters its sixth consecutive year of severe food insecurity in 2025, with 4.2 million people affected during the June-August lean season.

In Nigeria, the prolonged humanitarian crisis, worsened by high inflation and weather-related shocks, is endangering the lives of children, pregnant women, and entire communities. Northeast Nigeria bears a heavier burden, with 4.8 million people in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states facing acute hunger.

“The West and Central Africa region has long been neglected in terms of international funding and attention. We need a paradigm shift to reverse the worsening trend of hunger and its impact on vulnerable women, men, and children,” van der Velden added.

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