Trump leaves USAID staff in despair

by Elodie SOINARD

Beyond putting its work in some of the world's poorest countries in doubt, U.S. President Donald Trump's sudden move to shut down USAID has left many of its thousands of employees in shock and despair.

Promising to slash federal spending, Trump's government has put almost all of the more than 10,000 employees at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on leave and promised to shut down the organization.

One employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, sobbed in a conference call involving current and former USAID staff with journalists.

"We're not being treated like humans right now," she said.

"I am just bewildered that the approach has been like this," she said. "I'm so concerned about the direction of this country."

Another worker spoke of their commitment to the cause of USAID, which operates a wide array of humanitarian and development programs around the world and is one of the primary tools of US soft power.

"We literally have focused our life on this USAID mission," she said, adding that her family had been working in the sector "for decades now."

"You don't have a home to go to. And you have a mission that you believe in and that you've supported for decades, and it's just the rug's pulled (from) under you," she said.

There is "a great deal of heartache and anger," said one former USAID employee.

- 'Utter confusion' -

Trump and his allies allege the agency is rife with "fraud," but have provided little proof of the accusations.

USAID's budget of more than $40 billion is mandated by Congress, with its programs ranging from governance to life-saving food assistance.

The agency has, over the years, faced criticism in the aid sector for its overhead costs and questions on whether some of its programs achieve their objectives.

The former USAID employee spoke of how their colleagues "dedicated their lives to serving others on behalf of the American people."

"Right now, they are facing utter confusion and outright malignment from their leadership," she said.

Others spoke of the toll the uncertainty has taken on their mental health.

"I have been physically sick probably for the past week, stressed, anxious, not sleeping," one said.

"We definitely all see this as sort of the tip of the iceberg for what the country is going through right now," he added, asserting he was "more determined than ever."

Much of USAID's staff is based abroad, and there was little clarity on what fate awaited them.

A brief message on the USAID website, which informed staff they would be placed on leave and that arrangements were being made to fly overseas staff back "within 30 days" was all that they had to go on, said staff members.

Case-by-case exceptions would be considered "based on personal or family hardship, mobility or safety concerns, or other reasons."

That message left many unclear on what happens next.

"We are unsure if Secretary (of State Marco) Rubio and President Trump are going to abandon us overseas or abandon us when we land on American soil," said one worker.

"Our employer, the United States government, is not honoring their duty of care to us.

"Each of these families are going to arrive homeless, jobless, and insuranceless within a matter of days or possibly even hours of stepping foot on American soil," she concluded.

- 'Catastrophic' -

Beyond their own disrupted lives, staff said they were alarmed at the consequences on USAID's massive portfolio of projects, some of them in the world's poorest countries.

"There are real life consequences happening right now because of this chaos," said one worker, calling the Trump administration's claim that waivers were in place for life-saving assistance a "sham."

"This is resulting in massive humanitarian consequences everywhere for refugees globally who rely on our food assistance to stay alive when they have no means for their own livelihoods," said another.

They pointed to aid programs for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, where full rations of food assistance for one million refugees were due to run out at the end of the month.

Provisions would end completely by April, they said.

"For Sudanese refugees, what is happening is that organizations are already saying, sorry, you can't get your food assistance this month," said one worker, adding that water and sanitation services to 1.6 million people were also being cut.

"This is going to affect all of us. It is. The ripple effects are going to be catastrophic everywhere."

© Agence France-Presse