WASHINGTON / MOGADISHU (SD)– The United States government has announced it will officially suspend all aid to Somalia this year, following a dispute over the fate of humanitarian aid supplies provided by the U.S.

The suspension is also attributed to American disillusionment with the administrative handling of aid delivery to Somalia, much of which is reportedly misappropriated in Mogadishu. This step taken by the U.S. further stems from its disapproval of the policies of the Hassan Sheikh government regarding the suppression of democratic processes and the marginalization of federal member states.

This decision came after Somali government officials were accused earlier this month of stealing humanitarian aid from a warehouse belonging to the World Food Programme (WFP), which stored emergency relief supplies built with international support.

According to U.S. officials, this action, carried out on presidential order and without consultation with donor countries, is believed to have resulted in the theft of up to 76 metric tons of U.S. humanitarian aid intended for vulnerable populations.

Furthermore, more than 1,600 metric tons of aid supplies were affected by the incident after authorities were forced to relocate them from the original site to other locations.

Due to this matter, Washington had previously frozen all U.S. aid programs directly benefiting the Federal Government of Somalia. The U.S. State Department stated that the resumption of aid is contingent upon the Somali government accepting responsibility and accounting for the missing supplies.

The suspension of all U.S. aid is catastrophic for Somalia. The U.S. is not just a donor but the primary financial and logistical backbone for the Somali state, security forces, and humanitarian response. The termination is described as potentially “permanent,” indicating a fundamental loss of confidence, not a temporary punitive measure.

The theft of 76 metric tons of aid from a WFP warehouse is the immediate, scandalous trigger. For the U.S., this is unconscionable corruption at the point of greatest vulnerability. It validates long-standing suspicions of systemic graft within the Somali government and makes a mockery of the conditionality tied to billions in aid. It provides an undeniable, publicly justifiable reason for a drastic step Washington may have been contemplating for broader strategic reasons.

The suspension is explicitly linked to U.S. disapproval of Mogadishu’s anti-democratic tendencies and marginalization of federal states. This indicates the U.S. is using its aid lever to influence domestic Somali politics, signalling support for a more inclusive, federal model and pushing back against President Hassan Sheikh’s centralizing and potentially autocratic drift. It aligns the U.S. somewhat with the grievances of Puntland and other member states.

Somalia now faces a perfect storm: a deepening humanitarian disaster, a collapsing military front against Al-Shabaab, and a bankrupt, isolated central government.