The US government is suspending food aid to Ethiopia after an investigation uncovered a widespread scheme to steal donated food, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said, a move that will affect millions of the world’s poorest people.
Leaked documents given to donors indicate that the scheme was co- ordinated by elements within the federal and regional governments.
Officials have been diverting aid from those who need it to feed the military and ex-combatants and selling it on the open market to millers who re-exported the flour, according to an investigation by USAID.
“After a country-wide review, USAID determined, in co-ordination with the government of Ethiopia, that a widespread and co-ordinated campaign is diverting food assistance,”
