By Ebi Kesiena
The United Nations food relief agency has suspended aid deliveries to Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region amid an internal investigation into the theft of food meant for hungry people.
USAID Administrator Samantha Power said food shipments had been diverted and sold on the local market.
According to Samantha, deliveries would resume once there was confidence that they would reach the intended population, who are facing famine.
Meanwhile, the interim leader of Tigray, Getachew Reda, says he’s setting up a task force to tackle aid theft.
He called on humanitarian agencies to continue delivering aid to the most vulnerable.
Report says millions of people in Tigray suffer from food shortages after a two-year war between Ethiopian government forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
The World Food Program is responsible for delivering food from the U.N. and other partners to Tigray, the center of a devastating two-year civil war that ended with a ceasefire in November.
More than 5 million of the region’s 6 million people rely on aid.
Last month, WFP reported that it was investigating cases of food misappropriation and diversion in Ethiopia, where a total of 20 million people need humanitarian help due to drought and conflict.
