US joins UN in suspending food aid to Ethiopia’s Tigray

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — The United States aid agency says it has suspended all food assistance to the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray “until further notice” while it investigates the theft of humanitarian supplies. The U.N. confirmed a similar suspension. USAID Administrator Samantha Power said that her group has “uncovered that food aid, intended for the people of Tigray suffering under famine-like conditions, was being diverted and sold on the local market.” Nearly all of Tigray’s 6 million people rely on food aid, after two years of civil war and government-imposed restrictions on humanitarian relief pushed parts of the region to the brink of famine. The war ended in November with a cease-fire, which also saw aid deliveries resume. It is unclear who was responsible for the theft.