Washington – The Trump Administration has finished financing emergency programs of the UN World Food Program that help keep millions of living in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and 11 other impoverished countries, many of them fighting with the conflict, according to the organization and the officials who spoke with Associated Press.
The World Food Program, the largest food aid provider, attracted the US to restart the new cuts in a social media post on Monday. The unexpected contract of contract cancellations has signed up to some of the latest humanitarian programs administered by the United States Agency for International Development, according to two US officials, a United Nations official and documents obtained by the AP.
“This could be equivalent to a death sentence for millions of people who face extreme hunger and hunger,” WFP said in X.
The agency said it was in contact with the Trump administration “to urge continuous support” for lives of lives of lives and thanked the United States and other donors for past contributions.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other administration officials had promised to save emergency food programs and other life aid and death of deep cuts to foreign assistance from the United States. There were no immediate comments on Monday of the State Department.
The projects were being canceled “due to the convenience of the United States government” in the direction of Jeremy Lewin, a main lieutenant of the Elon Musk government efficiency department that was designated to supervise the elimination of USAID programs, according to termination notices sent to the partners and seen by the AP.
Programs led by Trump Administration
In Syria, a country that fights poverty, hunger and insecurity after a 13 -year civil war and an insurgency by the Islamic State group, about $ 230 million ended with PBs and humanitarian groups in recent days, according to a document of the State Department that details the cuts that the AP obtained the AP.
The largest of the Syrian programs directed, with $ 111 million, provided bread and other daily foods to 1.5 million people, says the document.
Around 60 contracts of contract cancellation during last week were sent. A United Nations official in the Middle East said that all American help to PMA food programs in Yemen, another country divided into the war that faces one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the world, has stopped, apparently including foods that had already reached the distribution centers.
The PMA also received termination letters for programs financed by the United States in Lebanon and Jordan, where Syrian refugees would be more affected, said the UN official.
Some of the last Funds of the United States for key programs in Somalia, Afghanistan and the Nation of Southern Africa of Zimbabwe also were affected, even for those who provide food, water, medical care and refuge for people displaced by the war, one of the US officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
The current and previous experts and partners of USAID said that about $ 560 million in humanitarian aid were reduced to Afghanistan, even for emergency food assistance, the treatment of severely malnourished babies, medical care that saves lives, drinking water and emergency mental health treatment for survivors of sexual and physical violence.
Another of the notices, sent on Friday, abruptly withdrew funds for a program with strong support in Congress that had sent young Afghan women abroad for education due to taliban prohibitions in women’s education, an administrator said for that project, led by the Texas A&M University.
Young women would now face Afghanistan, where their lives would be in danger, according to that administrator, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke under condition of anonymity.
Greater impact of cutting aid
The abrupt end of the PMA programs threatens some of the most vulnerable populations in the world, many of which depend on such food aid, according to humanitarian groups. The United States and other donors have seen efforts to relieve humanitarian crises as in their strategic interest in mass migration, conflicts and extremism, that the struggles for resources can bring.
WFP’s boss, Cindy McCain, said in a publication on social networks that the cuts “undermine global stability.”
Rubio had notified Congress and the courts last month that USAID contracts had ended, with approximately 1,000 programs saved worldwide and more than 5,000 others eliminated. That joined the clash of the new courts.
The Trump administration has accused Usaid of waste and progress of liberal causes.
Trump’s freezing on all foreign assistance through USAID and the State Department led to a brief closure of the services in the Al-Hol camp, where tens of thousands of alleged combatants of the Islamic State and their families remain under guard.
That closure increased the fears of a lifting or rupture in the camp. American officials intervened rapidly to restore services.
The State Department document obtained by the AP identifies two newly finished contracts, administered by Save the Children and the UN Population Fund, which provided mental health services and other care for women and children in Al-Hol. It was not clear immediately if any other service was affected in the camp.
The United States had been the main financier of the PMA, which provides $ 4.5 billion of the $ 9.8 billion in donations to the Food Agency last year.
