US Resumes Limited Food Aid to Ethiopian Refugees

On Thursday, the United States announced that it will resume limited food aid in Ethiopia to be distributed to nearly one million refugees, but will keep most operations suspended amid concerns of systematic diversion of aid.

Officials stated that the US will immediately resume providing food assistance in 28 camps within Ethiopia, housing refugees primarily from Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea.

However, broader assistance within Ethiopia, which is recovering from a two-year-long fierce conflict in the Tigray region, will remain suspended as the US imposes additional measures to prevent aid diversion.

Jessica Jennings, a spokesperson for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), stated, "Our assistance to other food-insecure populations throughout Ethiopia will remain suspended until we have assurances that it will reach its intended beneficiaries."

She added that "USAID's top priority is to resume food assistance for those in need across all regions, and we stand ready to do so as soon as the remaining necessary reforms are implemented."

The decision to resume aid to refugees comes after the Ethiopian government agreed to transfer responsibility for storing and distributing food supplies to relief crews in the camps.

The US Agency for International Development suspended food aid to Ethiopia in June, citing a "widespread and coordinated campaign" to divert donated supplies away from those in need.

The US did not name the entities behind this, but relief groups pointed fingers at federal and regional authorities, suggesting that soldiers were profiting from the resale of food donations.

The World Food Programme, a United Nations agency, followed Washington's lead, announcing a partial suspension of aid for the same reason. However, it resumed distribution in August in the Tigray region after authorities implemented monitoring measures.

Tigray is not included in the US Agency for International Development's list of refugee camps, and the agency said it looks forward to fully resuming aid in Ethiopia through expanded third-party monitoring and other reforms, including surprise inspections of vendors and biometric verification of recipients.

The conflict in Tigray, which some estimates suggest has killed hundreds of thousands of people, was officially concluded with a peace agreement signed in South Africa in November 2022.

During the conflict, the United States accused Ethiopia of blocking the delivery of food aid and using it as a weapon, straining its long-standing alliance with the country.

In June, UN agencies warned that about 60 million people in the Horn of Africa need food aid due to armed conflicts, unprecedented droughts linked to climate change, and rising global commodity prices, including the war in Ukraine.