The United States Agency for International Development has suspended all food aid to the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia “until further notice” while it investigates the theft of humanitarian aid.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — The United States Agency for International Development has suspended all food aid to the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia “until further notice” while it investigates the theft of humanitarian aid. The United Nations has confirmed earlier reports that it does the same.
USAID administrator Samantha Power said Wednesday her agency “found that food aid intended for Tigray people suffering famine-like conditions has been diverted and sold in local markets.” said.
After discovering the food was missing, authorities alerted the inspector general, who launched an investigation.
“Following this review, USAID, working with the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa and our implementing partners, determined that a temporary moratorium on food aid was the best course of action,” Power said in a statement. .
She added that USAID has expressed concern to the Ethiopian federal government and Tigray authorities.
Nearly all of Tigray’s six million people are dependent on food aid after two years of civil war and government restrictions on humanitarian aid have pushed parts of the region to the brink of famine.
The war ended with a ceasefire in November and aid deliveries resumed.
Power told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 26 that the food theft appeared to involve “collusion between the parties on both sides of the dispute.”
She said an agency investigation was still ongoing and did not elaborate on who was responsible.
Power told the Senate committee that the theft reflected a “systematic failure” by her agency, with much of the aid involved being recovered.
“We know we have an obligation not only to explain what happened, but also to fully explain any schemes for additional protection,” she said.
Power said the theft appeared to have taken place between November and February after fighting in the Tigray eased. USAID disaster response teams were unable to enter the area at the time and were unable to monitor it, she said.
The Associated Press reported last month that food taken from a warehouse in Sierraro, Tigre, was enough to feed 100,000 people.
The United Nations World Food Program in Ethiopia told partners on April 20 that it had suspended deliveries to Tigray. Late Wednesday, the UN agency confirmed the outage first reported by the AP.
The World Food Program said relief efforts in Tigray “will not resume until WFP is certain that critical aid reaches its intended recipients.”
Interim president of Tigray province, Getachu Reda, said he had formed a special commission to “prevent and investigate crimes committed in connection with humanitarian aid and strengthen the rule of law.”
He called aid diversion “a double injustice and a crime committed against children, the elderly and the disabled (people) who suffer from hunger and disease.”
According to USAID, the United States is the single largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Ethiopia, providing the country with $1.8 billion in humanitarian assistance in fiscal 2022.
In addition to the civil war, the country is also suffering from a prolonged drought.
___
Washington, DC Associate Press writer Ellen Knickmeyer contributed to this report.