The United Nations World Food Program has suspended food deliveries to northern Ethiopia due to an internal investigation into the theft of food meant for the hungry, four aid workers said today.
The World Food Program is responsible for delivering donations from the United Nations and other partners to Ethiopia's Tigray region, which has been the scene of a two-year civil war that ended with a ceasefire last November.
More than five million people in that region of six million depend on aid.
The World Food Program informed its partners on April 20 that it was temporarily suspending food shipments to Tigray due to reports of embezzlement, one of the four aid workers told The Associated Press, and the remaining three confirmed the information.
All four requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to journalists on this topic.
Last month, the AP reported that the UN food agency was investigating cases of humanitarian aid embezzlement and diversion in Ethiopia, where 20 million people are in need of aid due to catastrophic drought and conflict.
In a letter sent on April 5 by the director of the Ethiopian branch of the World Food Program to humanitarian partners, they are requested to disclose all information and cases of food abuse, embezzlement and diversion of which they have direct or indirect knowledge.
At the time, two aid workers told the AP that the stolen shipments consisted of enough food to feed 100.000 people.
The theft took place in a warehouse in the town of Şeraro in Tigray. It is not known who is behind the disappearance of the food.
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