According to a letter obtained by The Associated Press, the United Nations food relief organization is looking into the theft of food aid from life-saving humanitarian operations in Ethiopia.
The World Food Program’s Ethiopia director, Claude Jibidar, says in the letter that “WFP is very concerned about the large-scale sale of food in some markets” which “poses not only a reputational risk but also threatens our capacity to mobilize more resources for the needy people.”
The misuse and diversion of humanitarian food in the nation, he continues, “is consequently important that quick efforts be taken to limit.”
The letter, which is dated April 5 and is directed to WFP’s humanitarian partners in Ethiopia, where 20 million of the nation’s 120 million residents need on help due to drought and internal violence.
Jibidar asks the partner organizations to share “any information or cases of food misuse, misappropriation or diversion that you are aware of or that are brought to your attention by your staff, beneficiaries or local authorities.”
There are no specific cases mentioned in the letter. But, two humanitarian workers told AP that the stolen goods, which was just found missing from a warehouse in Sheraro, a town severely hit by the fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, had enough food for 100,000 people.
Due to the sensitivity of the subject, the relief workers talked on the condition of anonymity.
The supplies was taken from the Sheraro warehouse, which had previously been robbed by Eritrean forces working with Ethiopia’s federal government in a different incident, but it remained unclear who was responsible.
It was provided by USAID and was scheduled to be delivered by partners, according to one of the relief workers.
In an emailed statement, USAID said it “has proactively identified recent diversion of some of our assistance in Northern Ethiopia.”
“We are in regular communication with our implementing partners regarding incidents of reported diversion and continue to monitor developments closely and take all necessary steps to stop the diversion,” the agency added.
Restrictions have been loosened as a result of the peace agreement that the federal government and its competitors in Tigray signed in November, and aid deliveries to the area, where 5.2 million people require humanitarian assistance, have begun.
During a visit to Ethiopia last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged $331 million in financing for assistance organizations operating there.
