UN food agency WFP receives dozens of US stop work orders despite emergency waiver
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The WFP got an e-mail from USAid's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance listing dozens of project numbers subjected to a stop work order.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) was ordered by Washington to stop work on dozens of US-funded grants, according to an e-mail seen by Reuters, that was sent five days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a waiver for emergency food assistance.
The US Agency for International Development (USAid) grants, at various stages of progression, are worth tens of millions of dollars. They provide food assistance in impoverished countries including Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Haiti and Mali.
Several of the suspended grants are under the Food for Peace Title II programme, which spends about US$2 billion (S$2.7 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.
Just hours after taking office on Jan 20, Mr Donald Trump ordered a 90-day foreign aid pause
The State Department wrote a Jan 24 “stop work” cable – seen by Reuters – for all existing foreign assistance and paused new aid, but said Mr Rubio had given an exemption for emergency food assistance.
He also approved a waiver on Jan 28 for life-saving humanitarian help, defined as core medicine, medical services, food and shelter.
‘Far reaching consequences’
But on Jan 29, WFP – whose executive director is American Cindy McCain – received an e-mail, seen by Reuters, from USAid’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance listing dozens of project numbers subjected to a stop work order.
A senior WFP official in Washington responded with a list of clarifying questions, according to the e-mail. In another note, seen by Reuters, the same official raised concerns about the pause in Title II and Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) awards.
“The pause in Title II and CCC awards has disrupted WFP’s massive food supply chain, affecting over 507,000 metric tonnes of food valued at more than US$340 million,” the WFP official wrote.
The official noted that some of that food is currently en route by sea, more is stored in 23 countries and some is in overland transport. “A substantial quantity of food is currently being loaded at ports like Houston and other locations across the US domestic supply chain.”
“The scale of this disruption underscores the far-reaching consequences of the funding pause on global food assistance efforts. WFP is in the process of analysing the impact this has on the extremely vulnerable beneficiaries in severe humanitarian contexts that receive this life-saving assistance,” the official wrote.
The Trump administration’s effort to slash and reshape American foreign aid is crippling the intricate global system that aims to prevent and respond to famine, according to humanitarian organisations.
USAid has been a target of a government reorganisation programme spearheaded by businessman Elon Musk, a close Trump ally. The Trump administration plans to keep fewer than 300 USAid staff out of the agency’s thousands of staff.
Mr Trump’s incoming UN Ambassador Elise Stefanik praised WFP as “a very successful programme” when she appeared before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January.
She noted that WFP has “significant bipartisan support” in Congress. REUTERS
