WFP to halt some food aid to Ethiopia over diverted supplies

The World Food Programme (WFP) will halt some food aid to Ethiopia, the UN agency said Friday, following a decision by USAID to suspend food assistance after discovering that supplies were being diverted from those in need.

“While we will temporarily halt food aid assistance in Ethiopia, nutrition assistance to children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, school meals programs, and activities for building the resilience of farmers and pastoralists will continue uninterrupted,” WFP said in a statement.

The decision will affect millions of Ethiopians facing severe food shortages due to a devastating war in the northern region of Tigray as well as a punishing drought in the south and southeast that has also struck Somalia and parts of Kenya.

It comes on the heels of Thursday’s announcement by the US government’s main international aid agency to suspend food aid until reforms are instituted.

USAID and Ethiopia’s government said Thursday that they were committed to addressing the “deeply concerning revelations of food aid diversion”.

“The two governments are conducting investigations so that the perpetrators of such diversion are held to account,” USAID and Ethiopia’s foreign ministry said in a joint statement.