US to resume food aid deliveries across Ethiopia after halting program over massive corruption

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — The United States Agency for International Development will restart food aid deliveries across Ethiopia in December, five months after it halted its nationwide program over a massive corruption scheme by local officials. Last month, USAID resumed food aid to the roughly 1 million refugees in the east African country after the Ethiopian government agreed to remove itself from the dispatch, storage and distribution of refugee food supplies. The planned resumption comes after the agency reintroduced reforms to improve the registration of beneficiaries and the tracking of donated grain, USAID spokesperson Jessica Jennings said Tuesday. The Associated Press has reported that hundreds, possibly thousands, of needy people have starved to death in the Tigray region since the suspension.