ADDIS ABABA – The World Food Programme said yesterday it was suspending aid for 650 000 malnourished women and children in Ethiopia because of a lack of funding. 

The UN agency warned they were among 3.6 million people in Ethiopia who would no longer get food aid in the coming weeks without urgent new funding.
“WFP is being forced to halt treatment for 650 000 malnourished women and children in May due to insufficient funding,” it said in a statement.

“WFP had planned to reach two million mothers and children with life-saving nutrition assistance in 2025,” it added.
The WFP, like other aid agencies, has been caught in the crosshairs of funding cuts by US president Donald Trump, who signed an executive order freezing all foreign aid for three months shortly after his inauguration in January.

It comes as several Western countries have also reduced aid spending.
More than 10 million people are facing hunger in the east African country of around 130 million, the UN agency said.
Ethiopia is still recovering from a brutal civil war between federal forces and rebels in the northern region of Tigray between November 2020 and November 2022 that killed at least 600 000 people.
Ethiopia is also seeing a surge of refugees from neighbouring Sudan, gripped by civil war since April 2023, and South Sudan, long marred by instability.
Amid the growing needs, the WFP said it was facing a shortfall of US$222 million for the April-September period in Ethiopia. 

– Nampa/AFP