UN food agency shuts Joburg regional bureau amid Trump cuts
Decision to move southern African operations to Nairobi comes as drought and floods ravage countries
03 March 2025 - 19:12
byNellie Peyton
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A WFP truck. Picture: WFP/ABUBAKAR GARELNABEI/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), which relies on the US for nearly half its budget, is closing its Southern Africa bureau in Johannesburg due to funding constraints, the agency said on Monday.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has slashed foreign aid contracts around the world as part of its “America First” agenda, including funding to life-saving UN programmes.
The WFP did not quantify how much it would lose from Trump’s aid cuts, but regional spokesperson Tomson Phiri said that the donor funding outlook had become “constrained”.
The global executive director made the announcement on Friday.
The US is the single largest donor to the WFP, which gives food and cash assistance to people suffering from hunger due to crop shortages, conflict and climate change worldwide. It provided $4.5bn of WFP’s $9.8bn budget last year.
An El Niño-induced drought last year caused Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia to declare a national disaster. Since January, floods have ravaged several southern African states.
The agency would consolidate its eastern and southern African operations and run both from Nairobi, Phiri said.
“The goal is to stretch every dollar and target maximum resources to our front-line teams,” he said, adding that the closure would not affect country operations in Southern Africa.
The WFP said that overall, more than 60% of the food it procured was used in operations in the region in which it was purchased.
The agency was already short on funding, having raised just one-fifth of what it needed for the drought response last year.
Trump’s administration is cutting more than 90% of the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) foreign aid contracts and more than $58bn in overall US assistance around the world.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
UN food agency shuts Joburg regional bureau amid Trump cuts
Decision to move southern African operations to Nairobi comes as drought and floods ravage countries
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), which relies on the US for nearly half its budget, is closing its Southern Africa bureau in Johannesburg due to funding constraints, the agency said on Monday.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has slashed foreign aid contracts around the world as part of its “America First” agenda, including funding to life-saving UN programmes.
The WFP did not quantify how much it would lose from Trump’s aid cuts, but regional spokesperson Tomson Phiri said that the donor funding outlook had become “constrained”.
The global executive director made the announcement on Friday.
The US is the single largest donor to the WFP, which gives food and cash assistance to people suffering from hunger due to crop shortages, conflict and climate change worldwide. It provided $4.5bn of WFP’s $9.8bn budget last year.
An El Niño-induced drought last year caused Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia to declare a national disaster. Since January, floods have ravaged several southern African states.
Operations halted at five ports of entry due to flooding
The agency would consolidate its eastern and southern African operations and run both from Nairobi, Phiri said.
“The goal is to stretch every dollar and target maximum resources to our front-line teams,” he said, adding that the closure would not affect country operations in Southern Africa.
The WFP said that overall, more than 60% of the food it procured was used in operations in the region in which it was purchased.
The agency was already short on funding, having raised just one-fifth of what it needed for the drought response last year.
Trump’s administration is cutting more than 90% of the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) foreign aid contracts and more than $58bn in overall US assistance around the world.
Reuters
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