Myanmar relief camps get last handout from UN agency

Myanmar relief camp dwellers received final handouts from the World Food Programme (WFP) on March 19 as the UN agency begins halting aid to a million people in Myanmar because funding has dried up.

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MYITKYINA, Myanmar - Distraught Myanmar relief camp dwellers received final handouts from the World Food Programme (WFP) on March 19 as the UN agency begins halting aid to a million people in Myanmar because funding has dried up.

US President Donald Trump's slashing of the US aid budget has contributed to "critical funding shortfalls" for the WFP, forcing it to make sweeping cuts in Myanmar, which has been racked by a four-year, multi-sided civil war.

"I pray every night that this news is not true," said Ms Byar Mee, who on March 18 received the last of her monthly payouts worth around US$50 (S$67), which she uses to feed her family of five.

"I pray to God that the donors are blessed and are able to help us again," she said at a camp outside the north-eastern city of Myitkyina. "Please help us and pity us."