Help on hold

US' decision to pause foreign aid could lead to hunger deaths, ruin economies of nations across Africa

- CYRIL ZENDA

IN KHARTOUM, the capital of war-torn Sudan, there are around 800 soup kitchens across various neighbourhoods, each serving an average of 300 families. The soup kitchens provide at least one meal daily to people displaced by war and climate change-related floods that regularly hit the country. As a result of these catastrophes, one in three Sudanese have fled their homes, leading to a situation where an estimated 26 million people—more than half of the country’s population—are experiencing crisis levels of hunger. Most of these people rely on these soup kitchens to keep starvation at bay.

Suddenly one morning in late January, most of these soup kitchens were closed. This was because these kitchens were largely funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the main agency through which the US fun-

nelled billions of dollars in foreign aid every year. The soup kitchens were among the first casualties of US President Donald Trump’s January 20 executive order freezing all foreign aid for 90 days.

The US foreign assistance to Africa is channelled towards three broad categories: economic development, health and humanitarian aid. The bulk of these funds came through USAID, the State Department and the Treasury. It is these funds that have been frozen throwing these programmes into turmoil.