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Straits Times
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Trump's funding cut stalls water projects, increasing risks for millions
FILE PHOTO: A child sleeps on plastic jerrycans as people queue at the standpipe, where incomplete water connections caused by USAID funding cuts to the NGO Mercy Corps have led to ongoing water shortages, in Goma, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo, June 16, 2025. REUTERS/Arlette Bashizi/File Photo TAVETA, Kenya - The Trump administration's decision to slash nearly all U.S. foreign aid has left dozens of water and sanitation projects half-finished across the globe, creating new hazards for some of the people they were designed to benefit, Reuters has found. Reuters has identified 21 unfinished projects in 16 countries after speaking to 17 sources familiar with the infrastructure plans. Most of these projects have not previously been reported. With hundreds of millions of dollars in funding cancelled since January, workers have put down their shovels and left holes half dug and building supplies unguarded, according to interviews with U.S. and local officials and internal documents seen by Reuters. As a result, millions of people who were promised clean drinking water and reliable sanitation facilities by the United States have been left to fend for themselves. Water towers intended to serve schools and health clinics in Mali have been abandoned, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. In Nepal, construction was halted on more than 100 drinking water systems, leaving plumbing supplies and 6,500 bags of cement in local communities. The Himalayan nation will use its own funds to finish the job, according to the country's water minister Pradeep Yadav. In Lebanon, a project to provide cheap solar power to water utilities was scrapped, costing some 70 people their jobs and halting plans to improve regional services. The utilities are now relying on diesel and other sources to power their services, said Suzy Hoayek, an adviser to Lebanon's energy ministry. In Kenya, residents of Taita Taveta County say they are now more vulnerable to flooding than they had been before, as half-finished irrigation canals could collapse and sweep away crops. Community leaders say it will cost $2,000 to lower the risk – twice the average annual income in the area. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. 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BIPARTISAN SUPPORT Trump's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development has left life-saving food and medical aid rotting in warehouses and thrown humanitarian efforts around the world into turmoil. The cuts may cause an additional 14 million deaths by 2030, according to research published in The Lancet medical journal. The Trump administration and its supporters argue that the United States should spend its money to benefit Americans at home rather than sending it abroad, and say USAID had strayed from its original mission by funding projects like LGBT rights in Serbia. With an annual budget of $450 million, the U.S. water projects accounted for a small fraction of the $61 billion in foreign aid distributed by the United States last year. Before Trump's reelection in November, the water projects had not been controversial in Washington. A 2014 law that doubled funding passed both chambers of Congress unanimously. Advocates say the United States has over the years improved the lives of tens of millions of people by building pumps, irrigation canals, toilets and other water and sanitation projects. That means children are less likely to die of water-borne diseases like diarrhea, girls are more likely to stay in school, and young men are less likely to be recruited by extremist groups, said John Oldfield, a consultant and lobbyist for water infrastructure projects. 'Do we want girls carrying water on their heads for their families? Or do you want them carrying school books?' he said. The U.S. State Department, which has taken over foreign aid from USAID, did not respond to a request for comment about the impact of halting the water projects. The agency has restored some funding for life-saving projects, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said American assistance will be more limited going forward. At least one water project has been restarted. Funding for a $6 billion desalination plant in Jordan was restored after a diplomatic push by King Abdullah. But funding has not resumed for projects in other countries including Ethiopia, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, say people familiar with those programs who spoke on condition of anonymity. That means women in those areas will have to walk for hours to collect unsafe water, children will face increased disease risk and health facilities will be shuttered, said Tjada D'Oyen McKenna, CEO of Mercy Corps, a nonprofit that worked with USAID on water projects in Congo, Nigeria and Afghanistan that were intended to benefit 1.7 million people. 'This isn't just the loss of aid — it's the unraveling of progress, stability, and human dignity,' she said. THE PERILS OF FETCHING WATER In eastern Congo, where fighting between Congolese forces and M23 rebels has claimed thousands of lives, defunct USAID water kiosks now serve as play areas for children. Evelyne Mbaswa, 38, told Reuters her 16-year-old son went to fetch water in June and never came home – a familiar reality to families in the violence-wracked region. 'When we send young girls, they are raped, young boys are kidnapped.... All this is because of the lack of water,' the mother of nine said. A spokesperson for the Congolese government did not respond to requests for comment. In Kenya, USAID was in the midst of a five-year, $100 million project that aimed to provide drinking water and irrigation systems for 150,000 people when contractors and staffers were told in January to stop their work, according to internal documents seen by Reuters. Only 15% of the work had been completed at that point, according to a May 15 memo by DAI Global LLC, the contractor on the project. That has left open trenches and deep holes that pose acute risks for children and livestock and left $100,000 worth of pipes, fencing and other materials exposed at construction sites, where they could degrade or be looted, according to other correspondence seen by Reuters. USAID signage at those sites makes clear who is responsible for the half-finished work, several memos say. That could hurt the United States' reputation and potentially give a boost to extremist groups seeking fresh recruits in the region, according to a draft memo from the U.S. embassy in Nairobi to the State Department seen by Reuters. The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group based in Somalia has been responsible for a string of high-profile attacks in Kenya, including an assault on a university in 2015 that killed at least 147 people. "The reputational risk of not finishing these projects could turn into a security risk," the memo said. DAMAGING FLOODS In Kenya's Taita Taveta, a largely rural county that has endured cyclical drought and flooding, workers had only managed to build brick walls along 220 metres of the 3.1-kilometre (1.9 mile) irrigation canal when they were ordered to stop, community leaders said. And those walls have not been plastered, leaving them vulnerable to erosion. 'Without plaster, the walls will collapse in heavy rain, and the flow of water will lead to the destruction of farms,' said Juma Kobo, a community leader. The community has asked the Kenyan government and international donors to help finish the job, at a projected cost of 68 million shillings ($526,000). In the meantime, they plan to sell the cement and steel cables left on site, Kobo said, to raise money to plaster and backfill the canal. The county government needs to find "funds to at least finish the project to the degree we can with the materials we have, if not complete it fully," said Stephen Kiteto Mwagoti, an irrigation officer working for the county. The Kenyan government did not respond to a request for comment. For Kibachia, who has lived with flooding for years, help cannot come soon enough. Three months after work stopped on the project, her mud hut was flooded with thigh-deep water. "It was really bad this time. I had to use soil to level the floor of my house and to patch up holes in the wall because of damage caused by the floods," she said. 'Where can I go? This is home.' REUTERS
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Sudan's humanitarian crisis worsens amid escalating violence in Kordofan and Darfur
Sudan Kordofan Darfur CAIRO (AP) — Fighting in Sudan's Kordofan region that has killed hundreds and ongoing violence in Darfur — the epicenters of the country's conflict — have worsened Sudan's humanitarian crisis, with aid workers warning of limited access to assistance. The United Nations said more than 450 civilians, including at least 35 children, were killed during the weekend of July 12 in attacks in villages surrounding the town of Bara in North Kordofan province. 'The suffering in Kordofan deepens with each passing day,' Mercy Corps Country Director for Sudan,, Kadry Furany, said in a statement shared with The Associated Press. 'Communities are trapped along active and fast changing front lines, unable to flee, unable to access basic needs or lifesaving assistance.' At least 60 killed in Bara over the last week Sudan plunged into war after simmering tensions between the army and its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, escalated to fighting in April 2023. The violence has killed at least 40,000 people and created one of the world's worst displacement and hunger crises, according to humanitarian organizations. In recent months, much of the fighting has been concentrated in the Darfur and Kordofan regions. On Thursday, the U.N. human rights office confirmed that since July 10, the RSF has killed at least 60 civilians in the town of Bara, while civil society groups reported up to 300 people were killed, the office said. A military airstrike on Thursday in Bara killed at least 11 people, all from the same family, according to the U.N. office. Meanwhile, between July 10 and 14, the army killed at least 23 civilians and injured over two dozen others after striking two villages in West Kordofan. An aid worker with Mercy Corps said his brother was fatally shot on July 13 during an attack on the village of Um Seimima in El Obeid City in North Kordofan, Grace Wairima Ndungu, the group's communications manager told AP. Furany said that movement between the western and eastern areas of the Kordofan region is 'practically impossible.' The intensified fighting forced Mercy Corps to temporarily suspend operations in three out of four localities, with access beyond Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, now being in 'serious doubt,' Furany said, as a safe sustained humanitarian corridor is needed. Fighting in Kordofan worsens displacement Mathilde Vu, an aid worker with the Norwegian Refugee Council who is often based in Port Sudan, told AP that fighting has intensified in North Kordofan and West Kordofan over the past several months. 'A large number of villages are being destroyed, burned to the ground, people being displaced,' she said. 'What is extremely worrying about the Kordofan is that there is very little information and not a lot of organizations are able to support. It is a complete war zone there.' Marwan Taher, a project coordinator with humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders, told AP that military operations in Kordofan heightened insecurity prompting scores of people to flee to Darfur, a region already in a dire humanitarian situation. Though exact figures are yet to be confirmed, Taher estimated that hundreds were recently displaced from Kordofan to Tawila in North Darfur province. The NRC said that since April, Tawila has already received 379,000 people escaping violence in famine-hit Zamzam Camp and Al Fasher. Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration recently reported that over 46,000 people were displaced from different areas in West Kordofan in May alone due to clashes between warring parties. Taher said those fleeing Kordofan to Tawila walk long distances with barely enough clothes and little water, and sleep on the streets until they arrive at the area they want to settle in. The new wave of displacement has brought diseases, including measles, which began spreading in parts of Zalingi in West Darfur in March and April as camps received people fleeing Kordofan. Flooding and attacks worsen Darfur's already dire situation Aid workers also warned about ongoing fighting in Darfur. Vu said there have been 'uninterrupted campaigns of destruction' against civilians in North Darfur. 'In Darfur there's been explicit targeting of civilians. There's been explicit execution,' she said. Shelling killed five children Wednesday in El Fasher in North Darfur, according to U.N. spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay. Meanwhile, between July 14 and 15, heavy rains and flooding displaced over 400 people and destroyed dozens of homes in Dar As Salam, North Darfur. With a looming rainy season, a cholera outbreak and food insecurity, the situation in Darfur is 'getting worse every day and that's what war is,' said Taher.
Int'l Business Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
Slashed US Aid Showing Impact, As Congress Codifies Cuts
The United States' destruction of a warehouse worth of emergency food that had spoiled has drawn outrage, but lawmakers and aid workers say it is only one effect of President Donald Trump's abrupt slashing of foreign assistance. The Senate early Thursday approved nearly $9 billion in cuts to foreign aid as well as public broadcasting, formalizing a radical overhaul of spending that Trump first imposed with strokes of his pen on taking office nearly six months ago. US officials confirmed that nearly 500 tons of high-nutrition biscuits, meant to keep alive malnourished children in Afghanistan and Pakistan, were incinerated after they passed their expiration date in a warehouse in Dubai. Lawmakers of the rival Democratic Party said they had warned about the food in March. Senator Tim Kaine said that the inaction in feeding children "really exposes the soul" of the Trump administration. Michael Rigas, the deputy secretary of state for management, acknowledged to Kaine that blame lay with the shuttering of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which was merged into the State Department after drastic cuts. "I think that this was just a casualty of the shutdown of USAID," Rigas said. The Atlantic magazine, which first reported the episode, said that the United States bought the biscuits near the end of Biden administration for around $800,000 and that the Trump administration's burning of the food was costing taxpayers another $130,000. For aid workers, the biscuit debacle was just one example of how drastic and sudden cuts have aggravated the impact of the aid shutdown. Kate Phillips-Barrasso, vice president for global policy and advocacy at Mercy Corps, said that large infrastructure projects were shut down immediately, without regard to how to finish them. "This really was yanking the rug out, or turning the the spigot off, overnight," she said. She pointed to the termination of a USAID-backed Mercy Corps project to improve water and sanitation in the turbulent east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Work began in 2020 and was scheduled to end in September 2027. "Infrastructure projects are not things where 75 percent is ok. It's either done or it's not," she said. The Republican-led Senate narrowly approved the package, which needs a final green light from the House of Representatives, that, in the words of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, will rescind funding for "$9 billion worth of crap." The bill includes ending all $437 million the United States would have given to several UN bodies including the children's agency UNICEF and the UN Development Programme. It also pulls $2.5 billion from development assistance. Under pressure from moderate Republicans, the package backs off from ending PEPFAR, the anti-HIV/AIDS initiative credited with saving 25 million lives since it was launched by former president George W. Bush more than two decades ago. Republicans and the Trump-launched Department of Government Efficiency, initially led by tycoon Elon Musk, have highlighted spending by USAID on issues that are controversial in the United States, saying it does not serve US interests. House Speaker Mike Johnson said that the Republicans were getting rid of "egregious abuses." "We can't fund transgender operas in Peru with US taxpayer dollars," Johnson told reporters, an apparent reference to a US grant under the Biden administration for the staging of an opera in Colombia that featured a transgender protagonist. The aid cuts come a week after the State Department laid off more than 1,300 employees after Secretary of State Marco Rubio ended or merged several offices, including those on climate change, refugees and human rights. Rubio called it a "very deliberate step to reorganize the State Department to be more efficient and more focused." Senate Democrats issued a scathing report that accused the Trump administration of ceding global leadership to China, which has been increasing spending on diplomacy and disseminating its worldview. The rescissions vote "will be met with cheers in Beijing, which is already celebrating America's retreat from the world under President Trump," said Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
News18
08-07-2025
- Climate
- News18
This City Is Likely To Become World's First Capital To Run Out Of Water By 2030
Last Updated: Afghanistan's Kabul may run out of water by 2030: Dayne Curry, Mercy Corps' Afghanistan director, said, "The absence of water means communities will be forced to leave." Afghanistan's Kabul may run out of water by 2030: Kabul, Afghanistan's capital with a population of seven million people, could become the first modern city to run out of water in the next five years, a new report has warned. Every year, the amount of water being used is 44 million cubic meters more than what is naturally replenished. The report by nonprofit Mercy Corps has warned of a severe water crisis in Kabul if urgent action is not taken. Kabul's aquifer levels have dropped 25-30 metres (82-98 feet) in the past decade, with extraction of water exceeding natural recharge by a staggering 44 million cubic metres (1,553cu feet) a year, the report, published in April this year, noted. If the trend continues, Kabul's aquifers will become dry by 2030, posing an existential threat to the Afghan capital, according to the report. Dayne Curry, Mercy Corps' Afghanistan director, emphasised the crisis, stating, 'The absence of water means communities will be forced to leave. Without intervention, large-scale migration and increased hardship will follow for the people of Afghanistan." The report said UNICEF projected that nearly half of Kabul's underground bore wells, the primary source of drinking water for residents, are already dry. Kabul's water issues Since 2001, Kabul's 's population has grown sevenfold, complicating water management amid inadequate infrastructure and governance. Mercy Corps' alert calls for urgent international support and effective local governance to prevent a catastrophic drought in Kabul's coming decade. Rainfall has also declined sharply in recent years. Rivers that refill Kabul's groundwater depend on snow and glacier melt from the Hindu Kush mountains. But from October 2023 to January 2024, Afghanistan received only 45 to 60 percent of its usual winter rain. Inputs from ANI & Agencies view comments Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
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First Post
08-07-2025
- Climate
- First Post
Will Kabul be the world's first city to run out of water?
Kabul could become the first modern city to run out of water by 2030, according to a report published by the nonprofit Mercy Corps. Groundwater levels have drastically plunged in the Afghan capital. If the problem is not addressed, it could lead to the displacement of millions of the city's residents read more An Afghan boy fills his potable water tanker from a pump on the outskirts of Kabul on April 27, 2025. File Photo/AFP Kabul could become the first modern city to run out of water in the next five years. A report published by the nonprofit Mercy Corps has raised alarm about water shortages in Afghanistan's capital. Climate change and decades of conflict have deepened Kabul's water woes. Experts warn millions of people could be displaced if the problem is not addressed. Let's take a closer look. Kabul's water crisis Groundwater levels have drastically plummeted in Kabul due to over-extraction and climate change, as per the report by the NGO Mercy Corps. Kabul's aquifer levels have dropped by up to 30 metres over the past decade, while nearly half of the city's boreholes have dried up, the report stated. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD These boreholes are the main source of drinking water for the residents. The extraction of water surpasses the natural recharge rate by 44 million cubic metres each year. If this trend continues, Kabul's aquifers will become dry by 2030, posing an existential threat to the Afghan capital. The report warned that the water crisis in the city could displace some three million (30 lakh) Afghan residents. What's behind Kabul's water woes? Experts blame the rapidly growing population, climate change and governance failures for the current water crisis in Kabul. The city's population has significantly increased from less than one million (10 lakh) in 2001 to nearly six million (60 lakh) today, as per Al Jazeera. Mercy Corps and Afghan water management experts told RFE/RL that 100,000 unregulated borewells and hundreds of factories and greenhouses are also putting strain on the city's aquifers. 'Kabul has some 400 hectares of greenhouses that consume about four million cubic meters of water annually,' Najibullah Sadid, a water resources and climate change researcher based in Germany, told the news outlet. 'There are also more than 500 beverage businesses operating in Kabul. Just one such company, Alokozay, the largest soft drink company in the city, uses about one million cubic meters of groundwater each year.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The report by Mercy Corps underlined widespread water contamination in Kabul. Up to 80 per cent of groundwater in the city is believed to be unsafe, with high levels of sewage, arsenic and salinity. The water shortage is a daily worry for residents of Kabul. Some households spend up to 30 per cent of their income on water, with more than two-thirds having incurred water-related debt. 'Afghanistan is facing a lot of problems, but this water scarcity is one of the hardest. Every household is facing difficulty, especially those with low income. Adequate, good quality well water just doesn't exist,' Nazifa, a teacher living in the Khair Khana neighbourhood of Kabul, told The Guardian. Many parts of the city have run dry and residents rely on tankers for water. Some private companies are digging wells and extracting large amounts of public groundwater. Taking advantage of the crisis, they are then selling water to the residents at inflated rates. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'My monthly salary is 21,000 Afghani (Rs 25,797.54) and I spend at least 5,000 Afghani (Rs 6,142) on water for our family of 10 people,' a resident of the relatively affluent area of Taimani in northwestern Kabul, told RFE/RL last month. 'We use this water for tea, cooking, washing-up, laundry, and bathing.' 'There are many families that can't afford to buy water, it's like having to choose between water and food,' he added. Two decades of the US-led military intervention in Afghanistan are also believed to have worsened the crisis, as it forced more people to move to Kabul while governance in the rest of the country took a hit, as per the Al Jazeera report. The water crisis affects the poor more than the rich, who can afford to drill deeper boreholes. Poor children, who should spend their time on education, are instead searching for water. In this picture taken on April 27, 2025, Afghans carry water canisters on the outskirts of Kabul. File Photo/AFP 'Every evening, even late at night, when I am returning home from work, I see young children with small cans in their hands looking for water … they look hopeless, navigating life collecting water for their homes rather than studying or learning,' Abdulhadi Achakzai, director at the Environmental Protection Trainings and Development Organization (EPTDO), a Kabul-based climate protection NGO, said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Kabul's water woes are further fuelled by climate change, as rains have reduced in recent years across Afghanistan. 'The three rivers — Kabul river, Paghman river and Logar river—that replenish Kabul's groundwater rely heavily on snow and glacier meltwater from the Hindu Kush mountains,' according to the Mercy Corps report. 'However, between October 2023 to January 2024, Afghanistan only received 45 to 60 per cent of the average precipitation during the peak winter season compared to previous years.' Can Kabul's water crisis be averted? Yes. Experts say it is not too late to alleviate Kabul's water crisis. International aid and water-related projects could help the Afghan capital in tackling the problem. 'This problem is not new. For over a decade, various proposals on how to tackle the problem have been presented to Afghan authorities, but it has never been a priority for them,' Sadid was quoted as saying by RFE/RL. The construction of the Shahtoot dam and reservoir, some 30 kilometres southwest of Kabul, and the Panjshir River pipeline could provide drinking water to millions of the city's residents. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD India and Afghanistan's Ashraf Ghani government, which collapsed in 2021, had signed an agreement that year for building the Shahtoot dam on the Kabul River. Sadid told Al Jazeera that the project could provide water to large parts of Kabul, 'but its fate is uncertain now.' Since the Taliban takeover of Kabul in 2021, $3 billion in international water and sanitation funding for Afghanistan has been frozen. The Trump administration's decision to cut over 80 per cent of its USAID funding has exacerbated the crisis. In April, the Taliban's Ministry of Energy and Water said it was awaiting budget approval to begin construction of the Panjsher River pipeline. The Afghan government is seeking additional investors to fund the $170-million plan. The 200-kilometre pipeline will divert more than 100 million cubic meters of water every year from the Panjshir River to the capital. 'Artificial groundwater recharge and the development of basic water infrastructure around the city are urgently needed. Once these foundations are in place, a citywide water supply network can gradually be developed,' Assem Mayar, water resource management expert and former lecturer at Kabul Polytechnic University, told Al Jazeera. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Experts also call for international aid agencies to step in. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), it undertook several projects, including the repair of '1,315 hand pumps and the installation of 1,888 bio-sand filters to remove contaminants from water,' in several Afghan provinces last year. Speaking to RFE/RL, Abdul Baset Rahmani, a Kabul-based expert on water resources and climate change, said the water crisis in the city could be 'resolved within a year-and-half, if there is a political will to do so.' However, pointing to urgent short-term needs, he called on global aid agencies 'to provide emergency assistance to the impoverished people in Kabul who cannot afford to buy drinking water.' 'Such support would spare these people from enormous financial and mental strain, prevent diseases, and help many children to return to school,' he said. 'There are many children who can't get education because in order to help their families they walk several kilometres every day to places where water is distributed free of charge.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With inputs from agencies
