The United States has suspended all assistance to Somalia’s federal government over allegations that Somali officials destroyed an American-funded warehouse belonging to the World Food Program (WFP) and seized 76 metric tons of food aid intended for impoverished civilians.
The suspension followed reports that Somali officials “destroyed a WFP warehouse and illegally seized 76 metric tons of donor-funded food aid for vulnerable Somalis,” according to the U.S. government.
It is not immediately clear how much assistance will be affected by the suspension, as the Trump administration has slashed foreign aid expenditures, dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and not released new country-by-country aid data.
The U.S. provided $770 million in assistance for projects in Somalia during the last year of Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, though only a fraction of that went directly to the Somali government.
A senior State Department official said Wednesday that the department is “undertaking a thoughtful and individualized review to determine which ongoing assistance programs directly or indirectly benefit the Somali Federal Government and to take appropriate actions to pause, redirect, or terminate such programs.”
The official added that Somalia had long been “a black hole of poorly overseen U.S. assistance” and that the Trump administration is taking steps to terminate fraud-prone programs there.
The suspension was ordered after authorities at Mogadishu Port demolished the WFP warehouse at the direction of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud “with no prior notification or coordination with international donor countries, including the United States,” the official said.
The suspension also highlights a growing rift between Somalia, the U.S., and Washington’s allies in Israel. Last month, Israel officially recognized Somaliland, a first for the self-proclaimed republic since it declared independence from Somalia in 1991.
Somaliland’s strategic position on the Gulf of Aden, near Israel’s regional rivals in Yemen, makes it geopolitically significant. Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab, which has fought the Somali government for around two decades, has vowed to resist any attempt by Israel to use Somaliland as a base.
Although Somaliland has its own currency, passports, and army, it has struggled to gain international recognition. Israel’s recognition was supported by the United States but criticized by Egypt, Turkey, the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
