The United States has instructed the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to halt work on several grants funded by Washington. This was reported by Reuters, citing an email it obtained.
According to the agency, the directive from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was sent five days after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio clarified that the suspension of foreign aid programs would not affect projects related to “emergency food assistance.” Washington had allocated “tens of millions of dollars” for food grants aimed at assisting countries such as Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, and Haiti.
According to Reuters, some of these grants were implemented through the Food for Peace program, which annually allocates about $2 billion for the delivery of American food aid to other countries. Sources informed the agency that WFP representatives expressed concern in a response to USAID, highlighting that suspending funding could disrupt the entire supply chain of food aid under a program valued at over $340 million. The letter emphasized that a significant portion of the products is already in storage at U.S. ports.
On February 3, the U.S. administration effectively suspended USAID’s operations. President Donald Trump appointed Marco Rubio as the agency’s interim head, following organizational changes supported by entrepreneur Elon Musk, who was appointed to lead a new department aimed at improving government efficiency, reducing bureaucracy, and streamlining the federal apparatus.
