Reps. Omar and Garamendi Call for Resumption of Food Aid to Ethiopia

WASHINGTON-- Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Chair of the US-Africa Policy Working Group, and Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA), Co-Chair of the Ethiopia Caucus and a Member of the US-Africa Policy Working Group are co-leading a letter to USAID Administrator Samantha Power asking for a resumption of food aid to Ethiopia.

“While we understand the severity of the food diversion schemes, we also recognize the urgent and acute need to resume food aid to meet the nutrition needs of many Ethiopians, and especially people in Tigray,” the Members wrote. “We must find a way to balance the very legitimate need to ensure our aid is reaching the people who need it to the extent possible with the plain fact that the cessation of food aid is putting millions of Ethiopians at risk of starvation. Given the enormity of the crisis, we strongly urge you to restore food aid and not to wait until every perpetrator is brought to justice, every mechanism is in place, or every condition has been met. We are extremely concerned about initial reports highlighting the increased suffering already resulting from this decision to stop food aid.”

In May, the U.S. suspended food aid to Ethiopia’s Tigray region after it was discovered that aid was being diverted and sold on the local market. The United States had been the largest humanitarian donor to Ethiopia, where over than 20 million are in dire need of food assistance, following years of war in the northern Tigray region and drought.

This comes in the wake of a meeting the U.S.-Africa Policy Working Group held with United States Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Michael Hammer.

You can read the full letter here.