FILE PHOTO: A boy holds a baby as Rohingya refugees wait to receive food supplies at a World Food Programme (WFP) distribution at the Balukhali refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh December 19, 2017. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/ File Photo
(Reuters) - More than a million people in Myanmar will be cut off from lifesaving food assistance provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) from next month because of critical shortfalls in funding, the United Nations' food agency said on Friday.
"These cuts come just as increased conflict, displacement and access restrictions are already sharply driving up food aid needs," the WFP said in a statement.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since early 2021 when its powerful military ousted an elected civilian government, sparking a protest movement that has expanded into a nationwide armed rebellion against the ruling junta.
Nearly 20 million people in Myanmar are currently in need of humanitarian assistance, and an estimated 15.2 million - about a third of the country's population - are facing acute food insecurity, according to UN human rights experts.
WFP did not elaborate on the funding shortfall and whether it was due to the Trump administration's decision to cut U.S. foreign aid globally.
The agency said the cuts would affect communities across Myanmar, some of which are entirely dependent on WFP support to survive, including around 100,000 internally displaced people comprising the minority Muslim Rohingya communities and others.
"WFP is also deeply concerned about the upcoming lean season – from July to September - when food shortages hit hardest," the statement said.
Myanmar's junta has suppressed information about a severe food crisis gripping the country by pressuring researchers not to collect data about hunger and aid workers not to publish it, Reuters reported late last year.
(Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal in Bangkok and Disha Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Kate Mayberry)
