USAID Pauses Food Assistance to Ethiopia’s Tigray Region
VOAMay 04, 2023
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced its suspension of food shipments to the war-torn Tigray region of northern Ethiopia after discovering its food supplies were sold on the local market.
In a statement Wednesday, USAID Administrator Samantha Power issued the "difficult decision" to halt USAID-supported food shipments to the people of Tigray experiencing "famine-like conditions."
USAID's suspension of food aid is a blow to civilians already suffering from the severe humanitarian crisis in Tigray but reaffirms how the US stands with those in need. This is underscored by the fact that Washington continues to deliver other vital — uncompromised — aid to the region to address the crisis in the aftermath of the horrific war. Washington stands ready to resume food aid, but first, Addis Ababa and the Tigray People's Liberation Front must live up to their responsibility.
The theft of food aid for the suffering people of Tigray is a crime, but at the same time, it's cynical for the US to portray itself as the advocate of the Ethiopian people. It was Washington that solely blamed Addis Ababa for the war and suspended bilateral preferential trade agreements in addition to economic sanctions. Humanitarian aid is crucial, but USAID is just another instrument of Washington's cynical foreign policy in Africa.