NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The United States humanitarian agency told The Associated Press it is horrified by conditions in Ethiopia, where local officials have reported hundreds of hunger deaths in recent weeks after the U.S. and the United Nations paused food aid for one-sixth of the country’s population over massive theft of the aid.

In an unusually strong statement emailed to the AP, the U.S. Agency for International Development called the aid suspension “wrenching” and a measure of last resort because of the “extreme scale and coordination of food aid diversion identified across the country.”

U.S. officials have said in private that this could be the biggest-ever theft of aid in any country.

The U.S. and U.N. have not said who was involved in the theft, which was first discovered in March in the northern Tigray region when tons of food meant for needy people were instead found for sale in sacks branded with the U.S. flag.

Aid workers said Ethiopian government officials are deeply involved. The government, which largely controls the aid delivery process, dismisses as harmful propaganda the suggestion that it bears primary responsibility for the disappearance of aid. It has agreed to a joint investigation with the U.S. while the U.N.’s World Food Program carries out a separate probe.

Source: AFP