The war in Ukraine spoils Arab countries' preparations for Ramadan

With the blessed month of Ramadan approaching, many families find themselves unable to provide for the cost of breakfast tables rich in their dishes, after the Russian-Ukrainian war exacerbated the food crises that exist mainly in several countries in the Arab region and others and raised the prices of major products and commodities.

From Tunisia to Somalia, people in the Middle East and North Africa struggle to secure their daily sustenance and minimum basic needs as economic crises or conflicts weigh on their daily lives.

The increase in food and fuel prices in recent weeks worsened the situation with the approach of Ramadan.

"The high prices affect people and spoil the atmosphere of Ramadan," Sabah Fatoum, 45, a Palestinian resident of Tel al-Hawa in the western Gaza Strip, told AFP.

She asks, "How will fasting people prepare the Ramadan table? Flour and bread have increased in price, and the cost of cooking oil, sugar and sweets is high."

Prices rose, according to the authorities in the Strip, by up to 11 percent, which made the population feel "a state of frustration" ahead of Ramadan, according to the director of the Agricultural Association for Meat and Poultry in the Gaza Strip, Majed Jarada.

Russia and Ukraine provide about 30% of the world's wheat exports.

After the war in Ukraine, the prices of grains, sunflower oils and corn rose, and Ukraine is the first exporter of the first, and the fourth of the second, globally.

Oil and gas prices also rose sharply and reached levels not seen in years, due to Russia's significant role in the energy field.

International organizations have warned of the repercussions of the war in Ukraine on the global food system and hunger.

The International Monetary Fund sounded the alarm, stressing that the conflict in Ukraine would mean "famine in Africa."

The repercussions of this are clear in countries witnessing conflicts, led by Yemen, the poorest Arab country, over which the Houthi militia's control has resulted in one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

Ukraine produces about a third of the wheat supply to Yemen, which raises fears of widening the hunger gap in a country where food prices have more than doubled since last year, according to the United Nations, and the majority of the population is, in one way or another, unable to support themselves.

Mohsen Saleh, 43, who resides in Sanaa, told AFP that the residents used to rise in prices before Ramadan, "but this year they rose like crazy and people are no longer able to bear it."

"There is a very difficult economic situation," he added. "Most of the people in Yemen are poor and cannot find their livelihood."

"One meal"

In Syria, where the conflict has entered its eleventh year, the situation does not look better, with nearly sixty percent of the population suffering from food insecurity.

In the wake of the war in Ukraine, some food supplies are almost missing, especially cooking oil, whose price has doubled.

The Syrian government, which relies on its ally Russia to provide wheat, is working to legalize the distribution of specific commodities, especially flour and sugar, amid fears of their scarcity.

"I thought that our Ramadan table last year would be the poorest ever, but it seems that this year we will cut off additional items from our daily table," said housewife Basima Shabani, 62, to AFP from Damascus.

She continues, "We cannot provide more than one meal a day, and I am afraid that in the future we will not be able to provide it even."

In Tunisia, as usual every year, charities anticipate the month of Ramadan by starting to collect donations for poor families, by posting volunteers in front of shops with lists of basic foodstuffs required.

However, the pace of fundraising is different this year, in light of the deteriorating economic situation, a decrease in purchasing power, and a shortage of many basic foodstuffs such as rice, sugar and flour in recent weeks.

"The shopping cart usually fills up after an hour, but this year it is different," Mohammed Malik, 20, a student who has volunteered for years to collect aid, told AFP, noting that some people "tell us: Let's find what we need first."

In Lebanon, charitable organizations used to intensify their aid to the needy during the month of Ramadan, but the economic crisis in which the country is sinking has turned the situation upside down, especially after eighty percent of the population is below the poverty line.

While it is difficult to find flour in the shops and the types of cooking oil available are scarce, the prices of vegetables are recording an unprecedented rise, with which the preparation of fattoush, a basic salad on the Ramadan table, has become a luxury that many cannot afford.

CARE International director Bujar Khoja believes that the usual "solidity of solidity" during Ramadan is "being tested" this year.

He explained to AFP that "excessive inflation and high food prices" will make the month of Ramadan awaited by many families a "challenge", as "many will struggle to bring breakfast meals to the table."

"A big problem"

In Egypt, for the first time since he took office, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi ordered the government to price unsubsidized bread, after its price had risen by more than 50% since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The local currency lost 17% of its value this month, noting that Egypt is a major importer of wheat from the former Soviet Union.

"Whoever used to buy three kilograms of vegetables, now buys one kilogram," Umm Badria, a vegetable vendor in west Cairo, told AFP.

As for Somalia, which is witnessing the worst drought in forty years, with a timid international response to needs due to other crises, most recently the war in Ukraine, the Ramadan scene appears bleak.

High prices reduce the purchasing power of the 15 million population.

"Ramadan will be very different," Mogadishu resident Adla Nour told AFP.

Even in oil-rich Saudi Arabia, some residents are fed up with soaring food prices.

Ahmed al-Assad (38 years old), an employee in the private sector, said, "The prices of everything have increased recently. Every time I pay an additional twenty or thirty riyals for the same product."

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