Food that could help millions of people threaten to rot – Diepresse.com

After the reduction in US development aid by President Donald Trump, according to insiders, food rations for 3.5 million people in warehouses worldwide and threaten to become unusable. As the Reuters news agency learned from a total of five insiders, the food supplies have been stuck in four US camps abroad since Trump’s decision in January to shorten global help.

Some stocks whose durability could take place in July may have to be destroyed. Then the food would have to be burned or used as animal feed.

The warehouses are operated by the Bureau for Humanitrian Assistance (BHA) of US Development Aid USAID. They contain between 60,000 and 66,000 tons of food from American farmers and manufacturers. An undated list for the warehouse in Dschibuti, South Africa, Dubai and Houston shows more than 66,000 tons worth over $ 98 million. Among them are energy -rich cookies, vegetable oil and enriched grain products.

These supplies could feed over a million people for three months or supply the entire population of the Gaza Strip for one and a half months. This resulted in a Reuters analysis based on numbers of the World Food Program (WFP). The UN organization states that a ton of food-typically grain, legumes and oil-can cover the daily need of around 1,660 people.

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department, which is supervising USAID, explained to detailed questions about the food stocks. It is being worked on ensuring the continuous continuation of the aid programs and their distribution by July as part of the USAISISISTIVE process. « USAID is continuously advising with partners about where the goods in the USAID preliminary positioning camps can best be distributed for emergency programs before their expiry date, » said the spokesman.

500 tons of energy -faces biscuits before annihilation

Although the Trump government has granted exceptional permits for some humanitarian programs-including in the Gaza Strip and Sudan-the cancellation of contracts and freezing funds to pay suppliers, freight forwarders and contractors to ensure that food stocks are stuck in the four warehouses. A proposal to hand over the stocks to aid organizations that you can distribute is on ice. The plan is waiting for the approval of the Office of Foreign Assistance of the Foreign Ministry.

This office is headed by Jeremy Lewin, a 28-year-old former employee of the government efficiency (Doge), headed by the Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who now monitors the decommissioning of USA. The Office of Foreign Assistance, Doge and Lewin itself did not respond to inquiries.

The shelf life of almost 500 tons of energy-faces biscuits, which are stored in a USASID camp in Dubai, expires in July. These cookies could feed at least 27,000 acute malnourished children for a month. The cookies may now be destroyed or processed into animal feed. In a typical year, only about 20 tons of food would be disposed of in this way because they were damaged during transport or storage.

USAID plans to discharge almost all employees

Some of these stocks were previously determined for the Gaza Strip and Sudan, affected by famine. The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not directly answer questions on how much of the stored food aid is about to be expired and is intended for destruction. The United States plans to relieve almost all of its employees in two rounds on July 1 and September 2, while preparing for the closure. Many of the critical employees who are required for the administration of warehouses or the transport of the supplies will leave in July.

The United States is the world’s largest donor in humanitarian aid. They make at least 38 percent of all contributions recorded by the United Nations. Last year, $ 61 billion in foreign aid was paid out, just more than half of them via USA. The US aid includes ready-to-use therapeutic foods such as high-energy cookies and clumsy, a peanut-based paste.

Return backlog with contract customers

Navyn Salem, founder of Edesia, a US manufacturer of Plumpy’nut, said that the termination of transport contracts by the USA had caused a massive backflow. This forced the company to rent an additional warehouse for its own production. The resulting stock of 5,000 tons worth $ 13 million could feed more than $ 484,000. Salem said that an email exchange with Lewin was « hopeful » that a way would soon be found to bring the products to the children who need it.

At the end of March, the UN Kinderhilfswerk Unicef ​​warned that the stocks of therapeutic food in 17 countries were running out due to medium-sized cuts. This could lead to 2.4 million children who suffer from severe acute malnutrition, for the rest of the year without these important supplies. The four USAI warehouses contain most of the authority’s premium-positioned food supplies. In normal times, these could quickly be delivered to places such as Sudan, where 25 million people – half of the country’s population – suffer from acute hunger.

Jeanette Bailey, nutrition director at the International Rescue Committee, which receives a large part of its funds from the USA, said the organization reduces its programs after the cuts. The effects of global bottlenecks in food after the US decision are difficult to measure, especially in places where auxiliary programs are no longer active. « However, what we know is that more than 60 percent of children could die very quickly in inpatient stability centers that no longer have access to treatment. »

NGO confirms the death of children after US cuts

Action Against Hunger, a non-profit organization that was dependent on more than 30 percent of its global budget on the United States, announced last month that the US cuts had already led to the death of at least six children in their programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo after being forced.

The dismantling of USAID and the reduction of food aid by Trump takes place at a time when global hunger increases due to conflicts and climate change. This drives more people in the direction of famine and makes decades of progress. According to the world nutrition program, 343 million people worldwide are affected by acute nutritional uncertainty. Of these, 1.9 million people face a famine, most of them in the Gaza Strip and in Sudan, but also in parts of South Sudan, Haiti and Mali.

The Bureau for Humanitrian Affairs, which coordinates the US government’s auxiliary efforts abroad, was plunged into chaos by the cuts of the Trump administration. The employees of the office were part of thousands of USAI employees who were sent on vacation until their terminations are effective. Although some employees were brought back to work by their severance date, the auxiliary administration has not recovered.

Three insiders said that the contract for the entertainment of the USA icitic houses in the South African port city of Durban had been terminated, which enforced questions about the future aid distribution. Two former USAI civil servants said that the facilities in Dschibuti and Dubai would be handed over to a team in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that still had to be formed. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not comment on this.

A spokesman for the world nutrition program, which is strongly dependent on US financing, refused to comment on the stuck food stocks. When asked whether it is committed to the release of these stocks, the spokesman said: « We appreciate the support of all our donors, including the United States, and will continue to work with partners in order to promote the needs of the most endangered people who need urgently life -saving help. » (APA/Reuters)