Displaced people (IDPs) sheltering at Inpaung IDP camp, in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State, are concerned as food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP) has to stop in April due to an unexpected lack of finances caused by the sudden suspension of all US aid.
The WFP, a United Nations (UN) organisation that provides food aid, will have to stop sending food to Inpaung IDP camp in April 2025 because it no longer receives US funding, after US President Donald Trump suspended all US foreign aid on 20 January 2025.
Already in January 2025, the WFP was unable to provide aid to Inpaung IDP camp due to the cuts and political issues. But, they were able to give every child in the camp under the age of three years 90,000 MMK and everyone over that age 84,000 MMK towards their food costs for the months of February and March, with the final instalment of those payments being made on 15 March 2025.
When WFP staff came to Inpaung IDP camp to make that last payment on 15 March, they also informed camp officials that the WFP would have to indefinitely stop all food aid to the camp, until it receives more funding.
An Inpaung IDP camp official said: “We were really saddened when we heard that WFP would stop aid. But what can we do? We've already explained the situation to the camp management members and residents. Now, we just have to do our best to stand on our own. We'll also try to find as many new donors as we can.”
He added that if the situation worsens and food cannot be obtained Inpaung IDP camp officials will, as a last resort, ask the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) for help.
Due to this lack of funding IDPs at Inpaung camp want to try to get work outside the camp but jobs are scarce nearby the camp and there will be security concerns for those seeking employment further way, according to the official.
Some IDP parents at the camp are considering leaving their children at the camp whilst the fathers go work at mineral mining sites and the women sell goods. This could mean that they have to leave their children alone in the camps for days or even weeks.
IDPs have said that leaving the camp for work makes them vulnerable to conscription, but they feel that in the current situation they have no other options left to support their families.
Most of the IDPs sheltering at Inpaung camp fled fighting between a Kachin Independence Army (KIA)-led coalition and the junta in and around Sankar Village in Waingmaw Township between 7 March and 18 May 2024.
The WFP is not just cutting food aid to Inpaung IDP camp. It is having to cut food aid to disadvantaged , vulnerable people throughout Myanmar and the world.
In 2024, the WFP budget was just over 9.75 billion USD, of that about 45.5 per cent or just over 4.45 billion USD came from the US. Now that Donald Trump has cancelled that aid the WFP faces a huge and unexpected shortfall in its finances.
This led to the WFP announcing, on 14 March 2025, that it would suspend food assistance for around one million people in need across Myanmar, due to a lack of funding.
The decision to cut all US Aid will undoubtedly lead to deaths in Myanmar and around the world. It was implemented by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an organisation headed by Elon Musk, a man who said in an interview on 28 January 2025: “The fundamental weakness of Western civilisation is empathy.”
