STATE HOUSE ENTEBBE – In a high diplomatic meeting at State House Entebbe today, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain urgently appealed to the international community for immediate humanitarian support to Uganda as the country grapples with a mounting refugee crisis caused by fresh waves of conflict in Sudan, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The meeting comes at a time when Uganda a home to Africa’s largest refugee population is clipping under the weight of new arrivals many of whom arrive hungry, displaced and traumatized by war.
President Museveni emphasized that while Uganda remains committed to its open-door policy for refugees, the strain on national resources is reaching breaking point.
Schools, health centers and food supply chains in refugee-hosting districts like Yumbe, Adjumani and Kikuube are being stretched beyond capacity risking not just humanitarian failure but local instability.
“We are not complaining but we cannot do this alone,” Museveni said during the closed-door meeting, according to an official statement from State House.
“The burden is enormous, and we must call on our international partners to act faster and more decisively.”
WFP boss Cindy McCain, who recently toured several refugee settlements in northern Uganda, backed the President’s call describing the situation as a “global emergency that demands a global response.”
“What we are seeing in Uganda is both heartbreaking and heroic,” McCain said. “Uganda has shown the world what hospitality and humanity look like. Now it’s the world’s turn to show solidarity.”
The WFP Executive Director stressed that funding shortfalls are threatening the agency’s ability to provide consistent food aid with ration cuts already being felt by vulnerable populations.
In some settlements, refugees are surviving on as little as 1,200 calories a day, far below the minimum requirement.
Among the newest arrivals are children who’ve walked for days without food, mothers separated from their families and elderly people who’ve escaped bombings only to face malnutrition in exile.
Uganda is now hosting over 1.6 million refugees with new entries averaging 2,000 per week, according to UNHCR figures.
The ongoing conflict in Sudan has pushed entire communities into displacement, while renewed fighting in eastern Congo and South Sudan is triggering a dangerous regional domino effect.
McCain also commended Uganda for its continued leadership in humanitarian response and reaffirmed WFP’s commitment to partnership despite funding constraints.
Today’s meeting wasn’t just diplomatic routine, it was a rallying cry. A cry for action, dignity, and shared responsibility in the face of a crisis that could explode into something far worse if ignored.
With Uganda at the frontline of regional instability, and its generosity being tested like never before, the message from Entebbe is clear; Uganda has done its part. Now, the world must step up.
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