Unless support from around the world is sourced, aid to 3.6 million Ethiopians is at risk overall, the global food program warns.
The World Food Program (WFP) said it has suspended aid to 650,000 malnourished women and children in Ethiopia due to lack of funding.
The UN agency warned on Tuesday that 3.6 million people across Ethiopia could risk losing access to food aid in the coming weeks unless they could urgently procure new financial aid.
“WFP is forced to suspend treatment for 650,000 malnourished women and children in May due to lack of funding,” the UN agency said in a statement.
The agency had planned to reach 2 million mothers and children with life-saving nutrition assistance in 2025, but said it would be short due to a $222 million shortfall between April and September.
“If additional funds are not received, cash and in-kind food aid to up to one million refugees will be stopped in June,” the agency warned.
Like many aid agencies, WFP is caught up in the crossroads of funding cuts enacted under the control of President Donald Trump. Shortly after taking office in January, Trump signed an executive order that freed all foreign aid.
Conflict, instability, drought
Conflict, instability and drought are the main reasons Ethiopia’s more than 10 million people face the threat of hunger, the UN agency said.
The East African country has recovered from two years of brutal civil war between federal forces and rebels in the northern region of Tiggray, which ended in November 2022 and killed at least 600,000 people.
Tensions over Addis Ababa’s quest for maritime access between Ethiopia and Eritrea and Eritrea, fearing yet another conflict in the Horn of Africa just seven years after the two neighbors recovered their ties.
Continuing violence and instability in Ethiopia’s Amhara region is also hampering humanitarian activities, WFP said, adding that forecasts for rainfall below the average through May in southeastern Ethiopia could be even worse.
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