The Trump Administration Is Ending Humanitarian Aid to Seven African Countries

"A year after the Trump administration began the dismantlement of USAID, it is initiating a new round of significant cuts to foreign assistance. This time, programs that survived the initial purge precisely because they were judged to be lifesaving are slated for cancellation. According to an internal State Department email obtained by The Atlantic, the administration will soon end all of the humanitarian funding it is currently providing as part of a "responsible exit" from seven African nations, and redirect funding in nine others."

"The new email, sent on February 12 to officials in the State Department's Bureau of African Affairs, makes no such claims about the seven countries now losing all U.S. humanitarian aid: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Somalia, and Zimbabwe. Instead, according to the email, these projects are being canceled because "there is no strong nexus between the humanitarian response and U.S. national interests.""

The Trump administration is initiating a new round of cuts to foreign assistance and plans to cancel programs previously judged lifesaving. An internal State Department email indicates elimination of humanitarian funding as part of a "responsible exit" from seven African nations and redirection in nine others. Aid packages for Afghanistan and Yemen were already canceled over terrorism diversion claims. The seven nations losing all humanitarian aid are Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Somalia, and Zimbabwe. The administration states there is no strong nexus between the humanitarian response and U.S. national interests. The State Department says funding will move to new mechanisms and health-financing agreements.

Read at The Atlantic