http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/world/europe/world-food-program-syrian-aid.html 2014-12-01 16:45:20 World Food Program, Short on Money, Says It Will Suspend Aid to Syrians The agency said the suspension, taking place immediately, will have “disastrous” consequences for refugees struggling to cope with deprivation. === GENEVA — The United Nations The organization, the The cut in aid will affect refugees in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey who receive vouchers from the program to exchange for food in local shops. The same mechanism also provides an economic lifeline to communities struggling to cope with the huge influx of Syrian refugees in the last four years. The United States gave the agency $125 million last week: $70 million to cover the cost of refugee vouchers in November, and $55 million to support food deliveries to about four million people in Ertharin Cousin, the agency’s executive director, said the cut in aid would have a “terrible impact” as winter approached. “A suspension of W.F.P. food assistance will endanger the health and safety of these refugees and will potentially cause further tensions, instability and insecurity in the neighboring host countries,” she said in a statement issued from the agency’s headquarters in Rome. The sudden imposition of the cuts highlights the growing strain all humanitarian aid agencies are facing as they try to cope with a long list of emergencies in places like Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, Syria and Ukraine. To address the growing number of conflicts and disasters, the International Red Cross last week appealed for support for a 2015 budget that is 25 percent greater than the budget a year earlier. United Nations agencies and their international aid partners will be presenting their appeals for funds to operate in Syria and Iraq to donors this month. The World Food Program’s aid for Syria had operated for months on a “hand to mouth” basis using money as soon as it arrived, said Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the agency in Geneva. In September, to further stretch the available funding, it announced cuts of up to half the value of the vouchers, which were worth $15 to $45 a month, depending on the country. The food aid cuts “couldn’t come at a worse time,” António Guterres, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, said in a statement. “It will impact tens of thousands of the most vulnerable refugee families who are almost entirely dependent on international aid.” The agency’s food assistance was “obviously central to the overall humanitarian aid effort,” he said, adding, “It must be funded.”