Washington (AP)-The aid programs financed by the USA have started to dismiss and close employees or prepare themselves to stop their operations, since the unprecedented freeze of the Trump government suddenly their work on almost all foreign assist set.
Allies, including Ukraine, also have difficulty saving part of their security financing from the 90-day freeze, which was ordered by President Donald Trump last week. Trump also only paused federal grants and loans in the United States.
The Trump Administration says that it claimed foreign aid to decide which of thousands of humanitarian, development and security programs will continue to receive money from the USA
In the meantime, US officials ordered the programs to hire immediately. It was only an emergency food programs and military assist for ally Israel and Egypt.
Freeze means that schools in Liberia will be prepared this week to relieve cooks, the children are provided for lunch for lunch. The US efforts to assist American companies abroad and to counter China’s increasing influence could conclude. Veterans in Ukraine, which call a crisis hotline, will soon receive a recorded message that does not promise a recall.
Here is a look at the foreign financing freezing and how it hits US aid programs worldwide:
Make yourself with the global scope of auxiliary acceptance
The United States are by far the world’s largest source for foreign support, although other countries have a larger proportion of their budgets. It delivers 4 out of $ 10 that are donated to humanitarian aid.
Auxiliary workers, local officials and analysts emphasize that the extent of freezing is complex to understand.
“The auxiliary community deals with how existential this assistance is,” Abby Maxman, President of Oxfam America, said one of the few auxiliary employees who are willing to speak publicly about the effects of freezing after the warnings of the Trump administration have to do.
The Trump government put more than 50 high -ranking officials from the US Agency for International Development on vacation on Monday, as many organizations helped to freeze freeze. The acting guide of the USA said he was investigating whether the officials opposed Trump’s commands.
The US policy is for decades that the assist granted abroad through greater national security by stabilizing regions and economies and improving relationships with partners.
But many officials from the Trump government and the Republican legislator believe that a lot of foreign support is money that should be spent or saved at home.
For each program “we will expect the Foreign Ministry to defend the continuation of its programs, reverse or in some cases in the event,” said Rep. Brian Mast, Republican Chairman of the House Committee.
Most US funds for the military of Ukraine are not affected
According to Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the US Freeze has no significant American support from his military because it is fighting against those in the Russian armed forces. This is mostly true.
The only military aid for which the Foreign Ministry is responsible and is therefore considered by the break are foreign military financing and international military education and training. There are other baskets for UN peace safety operations and autumn programs.
Most of the military assist of Ukraine comes from the Pentagon. This includes a program that is referred to from existing weapon stocks and another than Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and is used to pay for weapon contracts that are not delivered for one year or more.
None of the programs of the Ministry of Defense is directly affected by freezing, although US officials say that there is nothing in the pipeline.
However, the civilian programs that are decisive for the war efforts of Ukraine come from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There is no word of the exceptions for them. This includes the US salary support in order to keep the government of Ukraine running despite the damage to the war.
This support is significant, said Bradley Bowman from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “But I think if our European allies read the political moment in the United States well, they move better, I say quickly to absorb most or all of these stresses.”
Money for the veterans of Ukraine and other programs have not been spared
The United States sent stop work orders to civilian programs in times of war that supports it in Ukraine.
This includes the veteran hub, a non -profit organization that operates a crisis hotline that achieves up to 1,300 calls per month from Ukrainian veterans who need social and psychological support.
Ivorona Kostyna, the head of the non -profit organization, found that she could soon lose half of her trained employees of 31 years.
“If we had had a month, for example warning, warns two weeks, it would have been much easier for us,” she said. every warning. ”
Days before the United States freezing, Veteran Hub received a call from someone who was about to injure himself, said Kostyna. A hotline employee wrote the person through the night.
“And now we have a line that doesn’t work, and basically no answer, which is terrifying for us,” she said.
A “death sentence” for some
In the South African nation Zimbabwe, Gumisayi Bonzo, director of a non -profit organization, takes care of their organization – and for itself.
Zimbabwe is one of the few African countries that achieve a milestone in the HIV/AIDS diagnosis, treatment and suppression of the virus load. This is largely thanks to a groundbreaking HIV program by Republican President George W. Bush, who has attributed the rescue of more than 20 million lives.
The program – the President’s emergency plan for AIDS easier or Pepper – was targeted by Republican hardliners. Bonzo had not yet heard a message about a financing excerpt for her group Trans Smart Trust, which promotes health services for bisexual and transgender people in a country in which discrimination and stigma prevent many of looking for treatment.
“Everyone is confused,” said Bonzo.
The 54-year-old decreases HIV treatment for 23 years, thanks to the support of Pepper, who made medication affordable.
“I have been taking religiously medication for over two decades, I live a normal life again and suddenly we have to stop,” she said. “This is a death sentence for many people.”
Some call it a “cruel” limit
Gyude Moore, a former Minister of Cabinet in Liberia, who is now Fellow in the US Center for Global Development, said that freezing from the United States would violate life in Africa.
The support of the United States helped West Africa to recover from years of malignant wars. The money from USAID has contributed to paying for the school’s school lunch, supporting the formation of girls, strengthening the health systems and helping diminutive farmers.
Moore, as many colleagues did, called the sudden limit “cruel”.
“There is no scope,” he said.
The relief of this support harms the United States because “it does not distinguish it between allies, partners and opponents,” he added.
And the US competitor China will be ecstatic to enter into Africa’s areas in order to build up his influence and business contracts in resource-rich countries, Moore and other analysts say.
“Feed hungry children in Liberia or malnourished children in Kenya and offer life-saving antiretroviral drugs in Uganda -keines of these things undermine American interests,” said Moore.
Consider losing the ground against China
The United States has also tried to enhance its profile in the South Pacific in order to counteract China’s influence, also by strengthening the USAIS editions for nations that depend on the strongest of development financing.
During visits to the Pacific in 2024, the officials announced more than 15 million dollars in recent expenses in order to promote the resilience of the natural disasters, to support economic growth, to assist countries to withstand the ruinous effects of climate change much more.
___
Mutsaka reported by Harare, Zimbabwe and Graham-Mclay from Wellington, New Zealand. AP reporter Tara Copp and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed.
