WASHINGTON

Cuts by the Trump administration in US foreign aid have triggered violence and rising instability in refugee camps across Africa, a report said Wednesday, citing internal State Department cables.

According to the cables, which were leaked to the US-based investigative news site ProPublica, US diplomats in Malawi reported in a late April cable that funding cuts to the UN World Food Program (WFP) have “yielded a sharp increase in criminality, sexual violence and instances of human trafficking” within the sprawling Dzaleka refugee camp.

The WFP, facing a 40% drop in funding for 2025, has slashed food rations in the camp by a third, it added. The camp, originally built for 10,000 people, now houses over 55,000 refugees fleeing conflicts.

The US embassy in Kenya detailed in an early May cable that news of funding cuts to refugee food programs sparked violent protests, according to the report.

The cable also reported deaths at food distribution centers, including a pregnant woman who died during a stampede. Aid workers warned that more casualties were likely “as vulnerable households become increasingly desperate.”

“No one can reasonably expect the United States to be equipped to feed every person on earth or be responsible for providing medication for every living human,” a State Department spokesperson said, according to the report.

The spokesperson added that “an overwhelming majority” of the WFP programs the Trump administration inherited, including those in Malawi and Kenya, remain active.

However, the US funds the WFP on a yearly basis, and so far for 2025, no funding has been approved in either country.