Concerns over impact of possible USAID withdrawal

Humanitarian officials in Eritrea have expressed uncertainty about how the probable departure of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) would affect food security in the aid-dependent Horn of Africa state. In July, Eritrea, one of the world's most food aid-dependent countries, asked USAID - its largest donor of food aid - to stop operations, saying it was uncomfortable with the agency's work. No more detailed explanations have yet been made available. "Right now, it is wait and see [whether the UN World Food Programme (WFP) would be affected]," said Jean-Pierre Cebron, WFP Country Director in Eritrea, echoing the sentiments of other aid workers. A senior US State Department and USAID delegation arrived in Eritrea at the weekend to discuss food aid and other issues. The Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs at the US State Department, Donald Yamamoto, left the country on Monday; two senior USAID officials were also expected to leave this week. Diplomats and aid workers said the US would take some time to make decisions on food aid policy in Eritrea, where two-thirds of the 3.6 million population were in need of food aid. "The extent, timings and modalities [of food aid in the future] - we don't know, and we don't know because it has not been decided," said Cebron. "We are reasonably confident that donations to WFP will not be affected in the short-to-medium term," he said. US food aid to Eritrea comes from both USAID and the US Department of Agriculture, and is distributed through WFP, NGOs and the Eritrean government. A US embassy report said the US had provided 774,679 tonnes of food to Eritrea over the past five years. In June, the US government announced a further donation of 200,000 tonnes, bringing its total donations for 2005 to 353,905 tonnes, more than the 342,000 tonnes of food aid needed in Eritrea this year. Eritrean government and aid officials are hoping for a better harvest this year, following good rains and the cultivation of 23 percent more land than in 2004. "There will be no assessment [of food aid needs] before October and November, when we will get the full report on the Eritrean harvest," Cebron said.