USAID employees detail harrowing exits from DR Congo amid violence as Trump administration dismantles agency
CNN
US Agency for International Development employees this week recounted the panic they experienced in the days after they were ordered to return from their assignments in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
US Agency for International Development employees this week recounted the panic they experienced in the days after they were ordered to return from their assignments in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Several employees, as part of a lawsuit filed Tuesday by a group representing the agency’s foreign service members, painted harrowing pictures of their chaotic departures from Kinshasa amid violent protests in the capital city, as President Donald Trump’s administration ended certain foreign assistance programs and placed members of Washington leadership on leave leading to internal disarray and a lack of guidance for staff. Directives in recent weeks for staff around the world to return to the US and employees to be placed on administrative leave came as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to freeze foreign aid and dismantle the agency in an effort to shrink the size of the federal workforce. CNN has reached out to the State Department and USAID for comment. The State Department ordered non-emergency US government personnel and their family members to leave the Democratic Republic of Congo amid escalating violence in the country and its capital city of Kinshasa in late January. The US Embassy in the DRC – which is closed until further notice – advised US citizens in a security alert Tuesday “to shelter-in-place” due to protests in Kinshasa. The embassy urged citizens to “safely depart while commercial options are available.”
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