USAID, WFP stop providing food aid to war-torn Tigray, due to diverted shipments

By Coic Chibueze On May 4, 2023

FILE - An Ethiopian woman stands by sacks of wheat to be distributed by the Relief Society of Tigray in the town of Agula, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Saturday, May 8, 2021. World hunger rose in 2021 with around 2.3 billion people facing moderate or severe difficulty obtaining food -- and that was before the Ukraine war which has sparked increases in the cost of grain, fertilizer and energy, according to a U.N. report launched Wednesday, July 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

After discovering that shipments were being diverted to local markets, USAID and the World Food Programme announced on Wednesday that they were freezing food assistance to Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region.

“We have made the difficult decision to pause all USAID-supported food assistance in the Tigray region until further notice,” said Samantha Power, administrator of USAID, the main foreign aid organisation of the US government.

In a statement, Power said that the organisation had recently “discovered that food aid, intended for the people of Tigray suffering under famine-like conditions, was being diverted and sold on the local market.”

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The WFP added that after learning of issues with food diversion, it had “paused” food distributions in Tigray.

The distribution “will not resume until WFP can ensure that vital aid will reach its intended recipients,” according to a statement.

Neither organisation could determine who was stealing the food aid and selling it.

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However, they claimed that they had brought up the matter with regional and federal officials from Tigray, Ethiopia.

According to the WFP, it had reminded regional officials to keep an eye out for illegal activity, report it, and uphold contracts for food distribution.

Power reported that officials had promised to assist in locating and prosecuting those responsible for the supplies’ diversion.

“USAID stands ready to restart paused food assistance only when strong oversight measures are in place and we are confident that assistance will reach the intended vulnerable populations,” the official said.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) declared that it “takes this issue extremely seriously and will not tolerate any interference in its distribution of critical food aid to the most vulnerable women, men, and children.”

After a bloody two-year conflict between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and pro-government forces, millions of people in Tigray experience food shortages.

According to WFP, a food crisis affects 84 percent of the Tigray region.

“WFP is resolutely committed to ensure that life-saving food assistance reaches those most in need efficiently and effectively,” it stated.