The United States government has announced that the food aid provided by the International Development Agency (USAID) to Ethiopia will be cut off because “it has been used for other purposes without reaching the beneficiaries”.
USAID stated that this decision was reached because “the food aid that should have been provided to the people of Ethiopia was used in a large amount and in a coordinated manner outside of its intended purpose.”
According to Reuters, the RTDO organization, which stated that the decision was taken in coordination with the Ethiopian government, did not mention the parties involved in diverting this food aid supply.
The organization said, “Following the national survey, USAID cannot continue in this situation until changes are made in the provision of aid, so we have made a difficult but important decision.”
An investigation conducted over the past two months has revealed that food aid purchased by donors has been misappropriated and marketed, and in some cases sent abroad, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.
A few months ago, USAID and the World Food Program cut off the food aid they were providing in the region due to theft in Tigray.
On the other hand, at a meeting that is being held in Saudi Arabia, Anthony Blinken, the head of the US State Department, announced in a statement issued by the US State Department that he and Ethiopia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Demeke Mekonon, had discussed the same issue.
Blinken expressed his appreciation for the fact that the Ethiopian government is determined to conduct a full investigation into the matter, and one of the issues discussed by the two foreign ministers was that aid food went beyond its intended purpose.
A spokesperson for the United States Organization for International Development said in the statement that aid will be resumed once the system of aid delivery is confirmed to be safe.