BRUSSELS: The UN refugee agency has appealed to donors to bring forward planned payments after the Trump administration put hundreds of millions of dollars worth of donations on hold as part of its foreign aid freeze, the organisation’s boss told Reuters.
Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, said he had asked European Union members and other countries with flexible aid procedures to accelerate their contributions to mitigate the effects of the US freeze.
“Otherwise, we face a cash flow crisis that we cannot afford,” he said in an interview in Brussels on Wednesday (Feb 5). “We deal with life-saving situations where we cannot interrupt aid for too long.”
He said some countries had promised earlier contributions and he was continuing to appeal for more.
Soon after taking office on Jan 20, President Donald Trump ordered a sweeping review of almost all US foreign aid
to ensure it aligned with his “America first” policies.
