The State Department says that humanitarian aid can continue; Assistance workers say that does not happen

CNN
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The aid work financed by the United States has been largely paralyzed, according to several sources to CNN, despite the statements of the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, that the US continues to provide humanitarian aid for Save lives.

As the 90 -day suspension of almost all US foreign aid by the Trump administration continues in a third week, thousands of US agency staff were expected to International Development (USAID) were placed on administrative or fired license, with plans to retain only several hundred people considered “essential”, effectively dismantling the agency. However, a federal judge temporarily blocked on Friday the Trump administration plans to license 2,200 USAID employees hired directly and arrested the accelerated elimination of personnel from countries around the world.

“The objective of our effort has always been to identify the programs that work and continue them and identify the programs that are not aligned with our national interest and identify and address them,” Rubio said Thursday during a visit to the Dominican Republic.

Rubio, now Usaid in functions, reiterated earlier this week that he had issued a general exemption for programs that save lives.

“If it is about providing food or medicines or anything that is saving lives and is immediate and urgent, it is not included in freezing. I don’t know how clear we can be, ”said Rubio, questioning the competence of organizations that have not requested an exemption.

However, several USAID employees and contractors who have spoken with CNN say that does not reflect the situation on the ground.

Almost all USAID humanitarian aid programs are still dry, they said.

“That work is paralyzed because there is no staff to manage it, and there are no staff in Washington to answer the questions of the partners,” said Usaid employee to CNN. “All humanitarian architecture worldwide has come down literally because they have decided to stop allowing people to work.”

“They have taken over our payment systems. We can no longer pay. We have no staff, ”said the USAID employee, adding that this has caused even the work supposedly exempt from freezing to stop, in caulmicitous places like Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Ethiopia.

Usaid “has been taken the power to process payments,” said the agency’s employee.

Some non -governmental organizations operating in other countries have received exemptions to continue part of their work, they told CNN on anonymity, for fear of losing future financing of the US government.

But even those limited activities have been interrupted because NGOs do not have money to pay the salaries of humanitarian workers and, in some cases, the USAID work suspension orders remain in force.

CNN has contacted USAID to obtain his comments.

When asked about several problems that prevent the work that saves lives to continue after Trump’s decree, the State Department addressed CNN to Rubio’s comments in the Dominican Republic, where he said that the department left “clear in the Orientation that there would be specially designated programs that would not be part of that decree, and we are working through the process of identifying them now, what are those specially designated programs. And we will continue working on the process of finding them. ”

Meanwhile, the acquisition of food in the Ethiopian region of Tigray has been interrupted, according to a coalition of humanitarian NGOs in the country. And nutrition services for malnourished children and adults have also been suspended, despite Rubio’s exemption for vital food aid.

In refugee fields in Syria, the United States financed coordination costs and services to protect humanitarian workers. That money is now frozen, which means that even organizations with another financing have suspended their operations, according to a source familiar with the situation.

A former contractor who worked on a project with Usaid in Syria, who financed the non -governmental organization of volunteers white helmets, told CNN that his subsidy was frozen.

The ee.UU dining rooms in Sudan are already closing, according to Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International and former USAID official.

“Many displaced and many people trapped in the famine and other crises could be harmed, if not severely harmed, if not dead, for this withdrawal of aid,” said Konyndyk, warning of the wide impact on refugees in Sudan, Syria and Gaza .

Konyndyk also pointed out that USAID employees cannot act on exemptions if they are blocked from their government systems or positions under administrative license.

Several humanitarian workers have declared CNN that they are the mechanisms of the system and the dismissals – and not the incompetence of anyone – those who have paralyzed the assistance work.

Many USAID projects are carried out by federal contractors, which normally cover the costs in advance and then present invoices for reimbursement, but the USAID is not currently processing those payments, an agency official said on Friday.

“The exemption lacks all meaning for us,” said Usaid official to CNN earlier this week.

Federal contractors of two US companies said their bills have not been paid since the day the Trump government began.

“Everything has been closed,” a source told CNN with knowledge of the operations in Chemonics, one of Usaid’s largest contractors.

“The work we do in the name of the US government provides essential health products to deal with HIV/AIDS and malaria worldwide, support efforts to curb migration from Central America, it involves US agricultural partners .UU. “As a result of the suspension decree of the works, we have not been able to withdraw funds from the credit letter to pay the suppliers and for the expenses incurred before the suspension decree of the works.”

According to the Professional Services Council, the Commercial Association of many federal contractors, the US government owes its member companies about US $ 500 million in unpaid invoices since the freezing of foreign aid entered into force.

“These payments would correspond to complete works required by existing contracts and for which the contractors had already spent the money,” said the Council in a statement, asking the government to “pay their bills.”

Some aid are also being paralyzed because the groups that execute the projects have not received clarity about what activities can continue.

“If a partner proceeds without being clear about what is allowed to do by virtue of his award and this decree, he is assuming a huge risk,” said a USAID employee. If they do something – even if it saves lives – that is later considered that it goes against the decree, “they will receive a sake and perhaps a closure.”