'Cut by mistake': US restores aid to UN food programmes in 14 nations

The US says it mistakenly cut UN food aid to 14 crisis-hit nations and is now restoring funding after warnings that millions could face starvation

The US State Department announced on Tuesday said it has rolled back funding cuts to several United Nations World Food Program (WFP) emergency aid projects after mistakenly terminating contracts in 14 impoverished countries.

 

“There were a few programs that were cut in other countries that were not meant to be cut, that have been rolled back and put into place,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters. However, Bruce did not specify which countries had funding restored or explain how the mistake happened.

 

The clarification follows an earlier report by the Associated Press (AP), which revealed that the Trump administration had quietly slashed funding to WFP operations in crisis-hit regions including Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and 11 other countries. These emergency programs provide life-saving food aid to millions of people affected by war, displacement, and hunger.

 

 

The World Food Program is the largest humanitarian agency dedicated to combating hunger. It relies significantly on contributions from major contributors such as the United States to fund its operations. Aid experts warn that halting WFP’s emergency missions—even temporarily—can have catastrophic consequences for vulnerable populations.  ALSO READ | 'Boys will be boys': White House on Elon Musk vs Peter Navarro tariff clash

 

The World Food Program, which did not immediately comment on the rollback, had on Monday made a public appeal urging the US to reconsider the sweeping aid cuts. “This could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation,” the agency posted on X (formerly Twitter).

 

The cuts come amid a broader restructuring of US foreign aid. Under the Trump administration and Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is being systematically dismantled. Thousands of aid and development contracts have been terminated, leaving only a few hundred still in effect.

 

While top officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have promised to protect humanitarian assistance and emergency food programs, termination notices show that around 60 USAID projects were recently cut across the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific Islands. Many of the affected initiatives were critical WFP food programs.

 

These latest cancellations were reportedly directed by Jeremy Lewin, a senior DOGE official tasked with overseeing the closure of USAID programs. The notices cited the cuts as being made ‘for the convenience of the US Government’.

 

As the State Department works to reinstate funding for programs that were mistakenly defunded, humanitarian groups are urging the administration to halt further cuts and uphold its commitment to life-saving assistance.

 

[With agency inputs]