How an American gel has turned world aid

It was early on Saturday, when hundreds of staff members who operated a sprawling humanitarian operation at Al-Hol travel camp in northeast Syria received a clear message: “Stop Work”.

The shipment was as abrupt as they were painful for those who knew the daily work of stabilization of the site, which contains 40,000 people, mainly women and children, moved to areas previously controlled by the Islamic State group.

Water, sanitation and security have all been upset in the immense camp, said a familiar superior humanitarian worker with his operation. Another installation in northeast Syria, Al Roj, was also struck by the sudden order. The suspects are held near two sites.

“Suddenly, you (risk) real instability and violence increases, as well as, obviously, the former Isis in the street,” said Susan Reichle, an external service agent USAID.

The dramatic order of the arrest work came after President Trump Gradhed all the foreign aid provided by the United States, by far the largest donor in the world, on his first day of return, calling for an examination to ensure that he respects his “America First” foreign policy .

For days, the world’s support and charitable organizations had waited to understand the implications of this order. Friday evening, its scale became clear.

A A disclosed memo revealed that Secretary of State Marco Rubio ended 90 days Throughout the existing foreign aid – with the sole exceptions for emergency food aid and for military funding for Israel and Egypt.

While the news of the Freeze has filtered in the ranks of the International Aid Community, the working notices have started to arrive.

Programs ranging from water sanitation projects to vaccination initiatives were launched in chaos while entrepreneurs tried to understand the implications of the directive. Brac, the world’s largest non -profit organization, told the BBC that 3.5 million people would be affected by programs it had suspended in four countries.

He felt “like an earthquake through the aid sector, with ruined rescue programs,” said an international BBC aid veteran.

Those who support the freezing of American aid programs, worth around $ 70 billion a year, say they are largely inflated, Washington bearing too much weight compared to other Western countries. And they argue that the government sends far too much money abroad which would be better spent for Americans at home.

The administration has clearly indicated that it is specifically opposed to all projects supporting diversity and inclusion, transgender rights, family planning, access to abortion and other questions – some of which have been targeted for a long time by republican administrations. The frost, they say, is designed to create an opportunity to eliminate unnecessary expenses.

“Each dollar that we spend, each program we are financing and each policy that we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions”, ” Mr. Rubio said. “Does it make America safer America? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?”

The programs affected, however, have been vast, triggering a shock and generalized criticisms in many parts of a global system linked to American funding. Aid entrepreneurs fearing to lose additional financing above all expressed these concerns in private, although some have spoke.

On Monday evening, staff working on the American program to counter the global HIV spread could no longer connect to its IT systems, according to Dr. Atul Gawande, former deputy administrator for Global Health at USAID and project expert.

Then, President Bush launched the president’s emergency plan for the relief of AIDS (PEPFAR) in 2003. He now employs more than 250,000 doctors, nurses and other staff in 55 countries distributing antiviral drugs and performing a Critical preventive work. It is recognized for saving millions of lives and eliminating the spread of HIV and AIDS.

“The program is closed …

Paul Jordan, who works at the European Peace Institute on the repatriation of foreign citizens of Al-Hol and Al-Roj, said that a large part of his work funded by Washington had stopped immediately.

“In terms of immediate impact, I have never seen anything as important as before,” he told a British parliamentary committee on Tuesday, adding that camps were to be “in limbo” for months for months that the exam was carried out.

“To which this has been about was in the past few days, nothing delivered to the camps,” he said. “There was no camp administration, very little security, food was not delivered.”

Later Tuesday, while assistance organizations claimed exemptions from the US government to continue the programs, the first signs emerged that the State Department was trying to limit the impact of its radical frost.

The definition of “vital humanitarian assistance” authorized to continue has been extended beyond emergency food aid to include “basic drug drugs”, medical services, food, refuge and ‘Other provisions.

These directives would have seen PEPFAR programs restart, but if preventive drugs – rather than simple HIV treatments – are covered are not clear.

Dr. Gawande, who was appointed to a main role in the USAID in the Biden administration, said that other programs remained in the air – including the work to combat an MPOX epidemic in Africa from Africa West, surveillance of bird flu in dozens of countries and initiatives targeting fentanyl traffic.

“It was immediate and my immediate reaction was, it is catastrophic,” he said about the effects of frost.

Asked about these specific programs, a spokesperson for the State Department said: “We examine all the derogations submitted. The Secretary of State has the ultimate responsibility … to protect American investments.”

Blumont, the American entrepreneur who coordinates the aid work in Al-Hol and Al-Roj, said that he had received an exemption from the State Department on Monday evening, allowing him to continue “critical activities” in the camps for two more weeks. However, he has no certainty beyond this period.

Questioned by the BBC on the situation in the camps of Syria and in other projects, the State Department declared that “critical national security derogations have been granted”, but did not specify if no linked to Syria.

The new directives of the State Department also said: “This renunciation does not apply to activities that involve abortions, family planning conferences, administrative costs … Programs of sex or diversity ideology, equity and inclusion), transgender surgeries or another lifeless economy assistance. “

Back in Washington, the USAID headquarters was rolled by the freeze.

The staff had been warned not to try to get around the directives and had given strict orders not to communicate on the frost outside the agency. An internal memo has severely warned that any violation “would cause disciplinary measures”.

Anonymous personnel has since been accused of having tried to “bypass” the decree of the president and dozens of senior officials were placed on administrative leave.

In the corridors of the agency, image frames which once posted images of projects in the field are now empty.

The world of foreign aid in the United States has been turned upside down in a few days, said Dr. Joia Mukherjee, infectious doctor for Harvard Medical School diseases and healthy health partners who helped advise the creation of Pepfar .

“It takes 20 years of goodwill and transforming it into an instrument of terror, when people feel like touching the drugs, if they see a patient, they could be dismissed,” she said.

While the criticisms were showing the State Department on Wednesday, the 90-day break and the examination of foreign aid “already paid dividends” in the United States and its people.

“We eliminate waste. We block the alarm programs. And we exhibit activities that take place contrary to our national interests. None of this would be possible if these programs remain on the automatic pilot,” he said .

Explaining why it was necessary to order a temporary suspension for all incitement to share the details of the programmatic level as long as the dollars continue to circulate. “”

He added: “A temporary break, with derogations from common sense for really fatal situations, is the only way to scrutinize and prevent waste.”

Thousands of kilometers away, in the Ugandan city of Masindi, Teddy Ruge is still struggling with the fallout. He was told to “stop the work” on Monday evening, and the derogations given so far do not seem to allow him to restart his agricultural project funded by the United States government.

Mr. Ruge employs farmers with small intrigues who cultivate a sheet rich in nutrients called Moringa. The factory is sold to North America and Europe where it is used to strengthen bread and other foods.

Its farmers count on a salary of around $ 70 per month, their revenues Bolsted by an annual subsidy of approximately $ 250,000 from the USAID.

But this rescue line seemed to fall, exactly a week after Mr. Trump’s decree.

“We were in fact preparing to have a meeting with all the farmers to talk about the new season and what to plant – a planning meeting,” Ruge told the BBC. “But now it’s more a burial,”

He still does not know if he is allowed to continue to employ farmers or if they can present themselves at work.

“From what I read, our program is in danger of being constantly canceled because it is on the verge of climate resilience and green manufacturing – which are not exactly at the top of the list of priorities of Trump, “said Ruge.

“It’s really discouraging. So I have a few sleepless nights in front of me.”