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The Trump administration’s latest sweeping cuts to international food aid will kill millions of people across the world if implemented, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has cautioned, in the latest warning of the deadly consequences of the Elon Musk-led USAID cuts.
Citing numerous officials and organizations, The Associated Press reported on Monday that the Trump administration has ended funding for WFP emergency food aid programs for 14 countries, including places like Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Gaza, which are war-torn and impoverished in large part due to wars waged by the U.S. military or U.S. sanctions.
The cuts come despite administration officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledging that emergency food aid programs would be preserved.
The administration has cut dozens of contracts, totalling over $1.3 billion, which funded programs like serving food daily to 1.5 million people in Syria and providing treatment to severely malnourished babies and safe drinking water in Afghanistan.
“If implemented, this could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation,” WFP said in a statement on social media on Monday. The group says it is in contact with the administration to “seek clarification” on the cuts and urge the contracts to be reinstated.
The government’s termination notices said that the contracts were being canceled “for the convenience of the U.S. Government,” AP reports.
They are apparently being led by a top agent for Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” Jeremy Lewin, who is leading the rogue group’s sweeping cuts to USAID.
WFP Chief Cindy McCain further said that the administration’s actions will fuel unrest and conflict across the world.
“Continued cuts to WFP’s emergency operations will deepen hunger, fuel instability, and make the world far less safe,” McCain said. “With conflicts and extreme hunger surging, pulling support doesn’t just cost lives — it undermines global stability.
”Previous reports have already found that the administration’s dismantling of USAID will threaten lives due to factors like disease. An estimate by the Center for Global Development found last month that cuts to HIV and AIDS prevention, vaccines and disease prevention, and other food aid will cause 3 million people to die just within the first year of the cuts.
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