Addis Ababa, 21 June, 2023 / 9:40 pm (ACI Africa).
Christian leaders in Ethiopia have expressed concern about the suspension of food aid to the Horn of Africa nation, and termed the move as “morally and ethically” unacceptable.
In a statement ACI Africa obtained on Tuesday, June 20, officials of the Joint Resilience Partnership (JRP), who include representatives of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia (CBCE) say the suspension “will strongly affect” the approximately 20.1 million people who are “in dire need of food assistance”.
On June 9, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced it was suspending food aid to Ethiopia because the “donations were being diverted from people in need.” The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had made a similar announcement a day earlier.
In their statement dated Monday, June 19, JRP officials say, “As local Church faith organizations we are very much concerned about the suspension of the humanitarian aid by USAID due to the allegation of the misuse and diversion of international aid.”
“We condemn this act of taking away food from the hungry which is not morally and ethically acceptable,” the Christian leaders in Ethiopia, who include representatives of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), say.
