The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) did nothing as more than 7,000 tons of wheat were stolen in Ethiopia, according to a Reuters investigation released on Friday, Oct. 18. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) officials launched an investigation last year after learning its donated food was diverted to commercial mills and markets throughout Ethiopia, according to USAID, food had been diverted at an “industrial level.”
The probe did not reveal many details, and no suspects have been identified to this day, despite it being one of the biggest thefts and diversion of food aid ever recorded. Officials say the amount of wheat stolen was enough to feed more than 450,000 people a month.
The WFP said it has “zero-tolerance for theft or diversion.” However, Reuters found that the U.N. agency knew of food being looted in Ethiopia for years before USAID discovered the crime.
The WFP now acknowledges that food was diverted to markets and mills in large quantities but said the agency itself is not responsible, instead partially blaming aid recipients who sold their rations.
Who is responsible for the mass theft remains a mystery. Some officials speculate that the Ethiopian and Tigrayan militaries had the food diverted. Both militaries deny the accusations and say that aid recipients often “contributed” to what it has dubbed its “citizen army.”
The top Republican on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, James Risch, R-Idaho, called the diversion of food “intolerable.” He told Reuters, “This system denied millions of people access to life-saving aid while enabling corrupt officials and armed combatants to serve their own objectives. Those responsible must be held accountable.”
