---
title: "UN releases emergency aid reserves after 'brutal' cuts from donors"
description: "GENEVA, March 6 (Reuters) - The United Nations has released $110 million from an emergency fund to help neglected crises around the world, including Sudan, after donors like the United States ordered major cuts."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Aid relief"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-03-06-un-releases-emergency-aid-reserves-after-brutal-cuts-from-donors/"
published: "2025-03-06T12:32:57"
updated: "2025-03-06T12:32:59"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 235
---

# UN releases emergency aid reserves after 'brutal' cuts from donors

> GENEVA, March 6 (Reuters) - The United Nations has released $110 million from an emergency fund to help neglected crises around the world, including Sudan, after donors like the United States ordered major cuts.

By Reuters · Published 6 March 2025, 14:32 SAST · Updated 6 March 2025, 14:32 SAST

## Key points
- As the U.N. pleads for a staggering $45 billion to address an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, it seems that while the world is busy tightening its purse strings, suffering has decided to take a permanent vacation—uninvited, of course.
- U.N. funding levels are set to hit a record low as U.S. foreign aid cuts and similar reductions from other donors take effect.
- The Trump administration's recent cancellation of nearly 10,000 foreign aid grants amounts to a staggering $60 billion loss.
- Humanitarian needs continue to rise amid severe funding cuts, with the U.N. seeking $45 billion to assist 185 million people in crisis.
- Emergency funds will target neglected crises in regions like Sudan, Chad, Afghanistan, and Somalia, where displacement and hunger are rampant.

## Content

The U.N. forecasts that funding levels, which were dwindling long before [U.S. President Donald Trump](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/donald-trump/) ordered [foreign aid frozen](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N3OK0VU&linkedFromStory=true) in January, are projected to drop to a record low this year.

The Trump administration announced last month it was cancelling nearly 10,000 foreign aid grants and contracts worth almost $60 billion, ending about 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development global work.

Other [donors like Britain](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AS8N3OD06J&linkedFromStory=true) have also announced cuts as countries face growing pressure to boost defence spending.

"For countries battered by conflict, climate change and economic turmoil, brutal funding cuts don't mean that humanitarian needs disappear," said Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

The U.N. is seeking $45 billion in 2025 to help around 185 million people fleeing conflict and battling starvation in what Fletcher described as "an unprecedented level of suffering". So far it has received just 5% of this.

The money released from the Central Emergency Response Fund will go towards underfunded and neglected crises across Africa, Asia and Latin America, the U.N. statement said. Around a third of the money will go support Sudan, where nearly two years of civil war has triggered a huge displacement of people and a [hunger crisis](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL5N3PI1QC&linkedFromStory=true), and neighbouring Chad which has taken in more than a million Sudanese refugees.

Other recipients include Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Niger and [Somalia](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N3PN0NG&linkedFromStory=true).

(Reporting by Emma FargeEditing by Frances Kerry)