FOOD supplies for thousands of African refugees at a camp in central Malawi are running out fast, United Nations (UN) agencies warned yesterday, appealing for urgent funds to provide full rations for the coming year.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said a lack of money had forced it to reduce food aid at Dzaleka camp in the last six months. Refugees are receiving only three of five planned foods – pulses, vegetable oil and maize – at half the amount they should get.

The camp’s more than 23,500 refugees, mostly from the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa regions, have access to only 40 per cent of the daily recommended minimum of calories.