UN food program closes its southern Africa office in the wake of Trump
administration aid cuts
[March 04, 2025]
By GERALD IMRAY and FARAI MUTSAKA
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The United Nations’ World Food Program is
closing its southern Africa office in the wake of the Trump
administration’s aid cuts, a spokesperson said Monday.
Tomson Phiri said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press that
the U.N. food agency had launched a multiyear plan to streamline its
structure in 2023 but as “the donor funding outlook becomes more
constrained, we have been compelled to accelerate these efforts.”
Phiri said the WFP would consolidate its southern and East Africa
operations into one regional office in Nairobi, Kenya. The southern
Africa office in Johannesburg will close.
Phiri said food programs would continue.
“Our commitment to serving vulnerable communities is as strong as ever,
and WFP remains committed to ensuring our operations are as effective
and efficient as possible in meeting the needs of those facing hunger,”
he wrote.
The WFP didn’t say how much funding it had lost from USAID, but it
received $4.4 billion in assistance from the United States last year,
around half its total annual budget and more than four times the amount
given by the second biggest donor, Germany.
The Trump administration announced last week it was terminating 90% of
USAID’s foreign aid contracts because they didn't advance America's
national interests, stopping $60 billion in spending on humanitarian
projects across the world.
The move comes after southern Africa was hit by its worst drought in
decades last year, destroying crops and putting 27 million people in
danger of hunger, according to the WFP. The WFP made a call for $147
million in donations to help some of those in need even before President
Donald Trump started cutting U.S. foreign aid.
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Officials from USAID and WFP inspect a donation of $11 million worth
of food aid at a ceremony in Harare, Zimbabwe, Jan 17. 2024. (AP
Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, File)
The WFP provides food assistance to more than 150 million people in
120 countries worldwide, it says. It won the Nobel Peace Prize in
2020 and its last six leaders since 1992 have all been Americans,
including current executive director Cindy McCain, the widow of
former U.S. Sen. John McCain.
Few U.N. agencies have been specific about the impact of the U.S.
aid cuts.
The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration reportedly has
cut 3,000 jobs linked to resettlement in the United States, and
family planning agency UNFPA has estimated that a number of its
operations will be affected.
Many U.N. aid agencies have said they are still assessing the impact
and remain unclear about whether some programs or projects will
benefit from waivers that could allow U.S. donations to continue to
flow.
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Mutsaka reported from Harare, Zimbabwe. Associated Press writer
Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.
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