Published: Less than 30 min ago
The US aid agency USAID has stopped all food aid to Ethiopia, after an internal investigation revealed that food aid intended for millions of hungry people has been embezzled on a “widespread” scale.
It is not clear who is behind the thefts, but when agency director Samantha Power briefed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this spring on the first discoveries of major thefts of food aid in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, she said the thefts appear to “involve collusion between parties on both sides.” in the government conflict with rebels.
She was also critical that the “widespread and coordinated” aid thefts had not been detected more quickly, calling it “a system error”.
The United States is the largest single donor to Ethiopia and last year provided $1.8 billion in humanitarian aid, including food aid, to the country. In total, 20 million of Ethiopia’s approximately 120 million inhabitants are in need of aid due to drought and conflicts.
Just over a month ago, the UN’s food program WFP decided to stop sending food to the conflict-torn Tigray region in Ethiopia after reports of food embezzlement.