The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it has restarted the distribution of food to approximately 900,000 refugees in Ethiopia. This comes after implementing enhanced safeguards and controls in response to reports of widespread theft of donated food. The WFP had previously halted its food distributions across the entire country in June, following the United States’ decision to do the same due to aid diversions. However, neither organization provided specific details regarding the nature of the aid diversions that led to these actions.
Information obtained from an internal briefing by a group of foreign donors suggests that USAID suspects food intended for the refugees has been redirected to Ethiopian military units as part of a coordinated effort involving federal and regional government entities. This development arises amidst a severe food crisis in Ethiopia, where over 20 million people require food assistance due to a devastating drought and a prolonged conflict in the Tigray region resulting in tens of thousands of casualties.
Within the past six months, approximately 35,000 individuals have fled from Sudan to Ethiopia, adding to the existing refugee population of 850,000 mainly comprised of individuals from Somalia, South Sudan, and Eritrea. Valerie Guarnieri, WFP’s assistant executive director, expressed relief that measures have been established to resume vital support for refugees enduring unimaginably difficult conditions.
Prior to the suspension of distributions, the WFP had been delivering emergency assistance to almost 6 million people across Ethiopia. This decision faced criticism from the Ethiopian government, which declared its intention to investigate the allegations of theft. While the agency resumed distributing food aid in parts of the Tigray region in August, it was still conducting trial distributions in other regions of Ethiopia at that time.
The WFP has implemented significant reforms in all refugee camps across Ethiopia, including assuming exclusive management of all 24 warehouses within the camps. Additionally, more non-governmental organizations have undergone training to oversee food distributions, and new protocols have been established to ensure that refugees receive their entitled food supplies accurately.
Reporting by Hereward Holland; Editing by Alexander Winning and Deborah Kyvrikosaios
Credit: The Star : News Feed
