INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The United States has lifted a pause on food donations, the U.N
World Food Programme said, ending a suspension that an aid watchdog on Monday warned had left 500,000 metric tons of food currently at sea
commodities produced by United States farmers for donation - despite a waiver for emergency food assistance - after United States
foreign policy.The United States also told WFP to stop work on dozens of United States -funded grants, orders that were received five days
after Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued the food waiver.Several of the suspended grants were under the Food for Peace Title II program,
which spends about $2 billion annually on the donation of United States commodities
The program, which makes up the bulk of United States international food assistance, is co-administered by the United States Department of
Agriculture and the United States Agency for International Development.The United States State Department did not respond to a request for
comment.The USAID grants that WFP was told to stop work on are worth tens of millions of dollars and provide food aid in impoverished
countries including Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Haiti and Mali.A lack of detail in
officials, who have been left to work out whether to take the financial risk of continuing programs without assurance that they are covered
auditor said USAID staff had identified more than 500,000 metric tons of food currently at sea or ready to be shipped that had been sourced
