US lifts pause on food donations for World Food Programme
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The USAid grants that WFP was told to stop work on are worth tens of millions of dollars and provide food aid in impoverished countries, including Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mali.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - The US has lifted a pause on food donations, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said, ending a suspension that an aid watchdog on Feb 10 warned had left 500,000 tonnes of food currently at sea or ready to be shipped in limbo.
“We can confirm that the recent pause concerning in-kind food assistance to WFP – purchased from US farmers with Title II funds – has been rescinded,” WFP said on Feb 9, in a post on social media platform X.
“This allows for the resumption of food purchases and deliveries under existing USAid (US Agency for International Development) agreements.”
Washington had stopped purchases of commodities produced by US farmers for donation – despite a waiver for emergency food assistance – after US President Donald Trump paused all foreign aid
The US also told WFP to stop work on dozens of US-funded grants, orders that were received five days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued the food waiver.
Several of the suspended grants were under the Food for Peace Title II programme, which spends about US$2 billion (S$2.71 billion) annually on the donation of US commodities. The programme, which makes up the bulk of US international food assistance, is co-administered by the US Department of Agriculture and USAid.
The US State Department did not respond to a request for comment.
The USAid grants that WFP was told to stop work on are worth tens of millions of dollars and provide food aid in impoverished countries including Yemen, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Haiti and Mali.
A lack of detail in the Trump administration’s effort to slash and reshape US foreign aid has created chaos and confusion, say humanitarian officials, who have been left to work out whether to take the financial risk of continuing programmes without assurance that they are covered by a waiver.
The Office of Inspector-General for USAid said in a report released on Feb 10 that “uncertainty put more than US$489 million of food assistance at ports, in transit and in warehouses at risk of spoilage, unanticipated storage needs, and diversion”.
The report by the auditor said USAid staff had identified more than 500,000 tonnes of food currently at sea or ready to be shipped that had been sourced under the Title II programme.
“Because this funding source was not included under the secretary’s emergency food assistance waiver, these commodities were held in limbo, subjecting them to spoilage, unanticipated storage needs, and potential diversion,” the report said. REUTERS
