Kathmandu, February 13:

The United States, through USAID’s Office of Food for Peace, has provided 1.8 million dollars to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Nepal to feed more than 108,000 Bhutanese refugees living in various camps in the eastern regions of Nepal.

“The donation of 2,640 metric tonnes of food stuff — rice, lentils and vegetable oil — will meet up to two-month ration needs of the Bhutanese refugees,” stated a press release issued by the American embassy and the World Food Programme in Kathmandu today.

“The donation could not have come at a more critical time. This year, WFP is in a situation where each month, we don’t know if we will have the funds to ensure adequate food supplies to the refugee community. We appreciate how quickly and generously the United States responded to our call for support to provide food aid to the refugees,” Richard Ragan, the World Food Programme’s Country Representative in Nepal, said in the press statement.

“We are glad to help WFP help Bhutanese refugees in their hour of need,” the American Ambassador to Nepal, James F Moriarty, has been quoted as saying in the statement.