The blow is tough for Addis Ababa. On April 22, the World Food Program (PAM) announced the suspension of its aid in May at 650,000 women and children with malnutrition in Ethiopia. Food aid for a million refugees will also cease in June “If no additional funding is received”alerted the UN agency.
In total, more than 3.6 million people in great vulnerability will no longer have access to food aid in the coming weeks. In question for WFP: a financing deficit of $ 222 million, dug by the budget cuts of donor countries, the United States in mind.
After the announcement at the end of January, by Donald Trump, of the American development agency freezing (USAID), the head of American diplomacy, Marco Rubio, confirmed in March the abolition of 83 % of the institution’s programs. Its budget, amounting to $ 37 billion in 2023, should not exceed 9 billion this year. A decision fraught with consequences for Ethiopia, the first beneficiary of American aid in Africa, which had received, in 2023, no less than $ 1.8 billion from the USAID.
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