Nairobi, Dec 13 (IANS): The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday that it has secured $118 million to provide life-saving assistance to over 1 million displaced people in Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Laurent Bukera, the WFP's regional director for eastern Africa, said the number of displaced people in the region has doubled over the past four years to 26.5 million in 2024, up from 13.2 million in 2020.

People who have lost their homes and livelihoods represent a significant portion of those the WFP aims to reach across eastern Africa, reports Xinhua news agency, quoting Laurent Bukera.

"This funding is critical to ensure we can maintain support for these vulnerable displaced people, many of whom rely almost entirely on humanitarian assistance to survive," Bukera said in a statement issued in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

The food programme organisation said the increased displacement is largely due to conflict, with the war in Sudan forcing record numbers of people from their homes, as well as extreme weather events such as the 2020-2023 Horn of Africa drought.

According to the WFP data, the growth in the number of displaced people in recent years has not been matched by a growth in resources, forcing the WFP to make difficult decisions about who receives food assistance and how much.

Additionally, the WFP called for timely contributions to enable it to provide cash transfers and in-kind food assistance to over 1 million displaced people, including refugees, asylum seekers, returnees, internally displaced persons, and some food-insecure host communities.

"None of the displaced people that WFP supports in Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, or Uganda are receiving a full ration (equivalent to 2,100 kilocalories) due to funding pressures," the WFP said.