The funding appeal, and the paltry response, comes as the Trump administration is poised to make sharp cuts to its foreign aid budget, including for the United Nations. Historically, the United States has been the agency’s largest single donor for humanitarian aid. For all four countries at risk — Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen — the United States has so far this year kicked in $277 million, not all of it for famine relief. In northern Nigeria, a famine could already be underway, according to an early warning system funded by the United States Agency for International Development. It is also less than a tenth of the $54 billion increase that President Trump is seeking for the United States military budget.

Source: New York Times March 23, 2017 20:15 UTC