In Khartoum, the conflict-ridden capital of Sudan, around 800 soup kitchens operate in different regions, each serving an average of 300 families.
These soup kitchens offer at least one meal a day to individuals displaced by war and climate change floods that frequently affect the country. These disasters have forced one in three Sudanese people to leave their homes, resulting in more than half of the country’s population (approximately 26 million) facing important levels of hunger Masu. The majority of these individuals rely on these soup kitchens to avoid starvation.
Suddenly, one morning in late January, most of these soup kitchens were closed.
Funded primarily by the US Agency for International Aid (USAID), Soup Kitchen was the first victim of President Donald Trump’s January 20 executive order, freezing all foreign aid for 90 days. USAID is the flagship institution that the US government has poured hundreds of billions of foreign aid each year.
The confusion that followed intensified hunger in Sudan. “The situation in Sudan has been disastrous for several months, but it can still get much worse,” he said, not-for-money operating in a troubled North African country that also tackles cholera, malaria and measles. A report from the group Operation Broken Broken Silence said. . “If USAID’s critical work in Sudan does not fully resume, we hope to witness a surge in deaths due to hunger, preventable diseases and further collapse of further health services in the coming weeks. ”
Unclear exemption
Following Trump’s orders, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that programs that provide “life-saving” assistance, including medicine, health services, food and shelters, will be exempt from aid freeze. However, communication became a mess, and although eligible for this waiver, it remained unknown to most beneficiary nonprofits. Amid this confusion, many of them were closed and hung in a dilemma.
According to the World Bank, 22 of the 26 poorest countries in the world are in Africa. Therefore, the effects of the freeze on US aid are felt most severe on the continent. These countries have relied on American aid for decades for a wide variety of functions. These include female genital mutilation, disease control, eradication, sexual rights, climate mitigation, human rights, democracy, research and training of all kinds, and everything in between, demonstration practice, fight, fight, everything in between. It was included. In the Freeze announcement, USAID alone funded 62 programs in various countries in Africa.
US foreign aid to Africa is directed towards three broad categories: economic development, health and humanitarian aid. The majority of these funds came through the USAID, the State Department and the Treasury Department. These funds are what’s frozen, which will disrupt the program.
In eight of the world’s poorest countries (seven of them), an analysis by the Centre for Global Development (CGD) shows that over a fifth of total support comes from USAID. The countries are South Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Sudan, Uganda and Ethiopia.
“In all but these two countries, the USAID focus is classified as “emergency response.” This despite the relatively prolonged crisis,” the report states. “This suggests that aid is being used to address these domestic acute needs: in Liberia, basic health is the main sector, and in Uganda, population and reproductive health. .”
Government records show that USAID spent more than $12 billion in sub-Saharan Africa in 2024. Of this, the Congo’s troubled Democratic Republic received $1.3 billion, followed by Ethiopia and Sudan.
The development of a health crisis
Fear of increased deaths has also been found in Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho, Mozambique and other South African countries that not only have exposed thread health systems, but also a significant portion of the population living with the HIV virus. There are also parts.
“The world is baffled,” responded Aaron Mossoaredi, South Africa’s health minister with the highest number of people living with HIV. He said the US is funding nearly 20% of South Africa’s $2.3 billion annual HIV/AIDS containment projects through the 22-year-old US President’s AIDS Relief Emergency Program (PEPFAR) program.
Pepfar is believed to have saved the lives of over 25 million people in Africa. Over 8 million people in South Africa live with HIV and PEPFAR.
African countries receive varying amounts from the US for their health programs. For example, Zimbabwe, a country with 1.2 million people in ARV treatment, receives more than $200 million a year from Pepfer.
The PEPFAR fund also supports the salaries and incentives of low-paid healthcare workers across the country, in addition to funding HIV and viral load testing, prevention, cervical cancer screening and TB treatment.
In countries like Zimbabwe, the effects of a freeze on US aid are devastating, as 98% of the drug bills are paid by donors. “Country with HIV/AIDS challenges will be affected,” Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Mushlinuchube said in response to the freeze.
“People will die!”
The withdrawal of US funds has warned Winnie Byanima, executive director of the United Nations AIDS Agency (UNAIDS) that it will increase new HIV infections six times, leading to an intensifying death of AIDS.
“If the US government doesn’t change their minds and maintains leadership, this will take lives… People will die because the tools to save lives have been taken away from them,” he said in Uganda, quoted as saying in Uganda. I did.
He also said Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) during an increase in global health inequality is an expert. The move, they warned, would undermine international health solidarity and put the world, particularly the most vulnerable parts of Africa, at a random risk.
Additionally, some programs and entities operate under the US-funded Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and have long supported public health initiatives and medical research related to universities across the African continent.
Humanitarian crisis in refugee camps
Uganda is the country hosting 1.8 million refugees and asylum seeking population (Africa’s largest and the fourth largest in the world), with budgets diminished and US aid freeze exacerbated the crisis In the meantime, we are already struggling with this increased burden.
In 2024, the US donated more than $86 million to Uganda’s humanitarian refugee program. However, these programs were already nervous as funding was declining. For example, in 2017, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees operated by the 2024 policy outline published by the Egmont Troyal Institute of International Relations, a Brussels-based think tank, Uganda alone was run with a budget of 1.4 million refugees. It was there. . However, by the end of 2023, the Ugandan institution’s budget had plummeted to $141 million despite an increase in refugee numbers.
Less than half of the $360 million budget for refugee assistance in Uganda was set aside, but even if the number of people in need rises to around 1.7 million, the UNHCR report from the second half of 2024 is shown. As of January 31, 2025, the UN agency had raised just 9% of the amount needed.
This is a scenario in many other countries that host nearly 10 million refugees on the continent. According to the Institute for Security (ISS), a 10-person refugee crisis has emerged in Africa, destabilizing peace and development on the continent.
In 2024, approximately 37% (45.9 million) of the world’s forced displaced people were in Africa. There are approximately 8.9 million refugees, 1.1 million asylum seekers, 35 million internal displaced people, and approximately 1 million stateless people. Most of these cases rely heavily on US aid, and the freeze leaves most of them in a hurry.
The ecosystem has been destroyed
For many years, the biggest chunk of US aid has been directed towards economic development programs in African countries. But now, the US is not only withdrawing foreign aid, but also trying to maximize cash inflows from overseas. Under his American first trade policy, Trump plans to establish an external revenue service with a broader plan to use it to collect tariffs, duties, and other foreign trade-related revenues. It has been announced.
Experts have further complicated global tax systems, and the use of global supplementary tariffs to close the US trade deficit and the widespread tariff levies of tariffs exporting goods to the US in addition to further complicating the already complex global tax system. I’m afraid of Trump’s move to explore impact. .
At least 40 African countries benefit from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and allow tax-free exports of selected products from these countries for 25 years. The program is currently under threat. For example, the citrus and automotive industry in South Africa benefits from this tariff-free access.
South Africa exports 110,415 tons of citrus fruits to the United States each year, creating jobs for 140,000 people. Many of them are in rural communities with no alternative employment opportunities. The automotive industry, which is also exported to the US tax-free, employs around 112,000 people directly, and an additional 350,000 indirectly, making it a key contributor to the South African economy.
Similar benefits extend across a variety of sectors in the 40 countries that are Agoa’s beneficiaries.
It also said that by promoting greater fossil fuel exploration and development at home under the new national energy policy, the US could become an even stronger competitor in the global energy market, potentially lowering oil and gas prices. There are also concerns. For African energy exporters such as Nigeria and Angola, cheaper US production can challenge market share and disrupt the economy.
The nonprofit sector is a major contributor to employment in Africa, with tens of thousands of nonprofits directly employing millions, while also benefiting many others. Masu. In Kenya alone, more than 30,000 people work in US-funded health projects, so the massive layoffs caused by US funding withdrawals will have a serious impact on the economies of all African countries. .
Many NGOs that do not receive funds from the US are still on the ground, but there is always a symbiotic relationship between the various nonprofits operating in the country and region. The resulting ecosystem is severely disturbed when a giant like USAID suddenly retreats.
“Like many small nonprofits operating in countries where USAID exists, we indirectly benefit from the broader humanitarian and economic stability that helps institutions create. “Humanitarian work is extremely complex and requires a network of organizations working with local heroes to tackle difficult challenges. They can’t do it all. But a great nation like USAID. Everyone is suffering when it is suddenly removed from the situation.”
