The United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday it was suspending food aid in Ethiopia due to the widespread theft of donations, a day after the United States announced it was doing the same.

More than 20 million people need food assistance in Africa's second-most populous nation, largely due to the Horn of Africa's worst drought in decades and a two-year conflict in northern Ethiopia that left tens of thousands dead.

The WFP has helped 7 million people affected by those two crises, while the United States is by far the biggest donor to Ethiopia, providing $US1.8 billion ($2.67 billion) in humanitarian assistance in 2022.

Neither the WFP nor the US Agency for International Development (USAID) gave details about the diversions of aid that led to their decisions.

But an internal briefing by a group of foreign donors, seen by Reuters, said USAID believes food has been diverted to Ethiopian military units as part of a scheme orchestrated by federal and regional government entities.

Spokespeople for Ethiopia's government, military and foreign affairs ministry have not responded to Reuters' requests for comment.

Ms McCain said she welcomed the Ethiopian government's commitment to investigate and hold accountable those responsible for the thefts, echoing comments made by US officials on Thursday.

The WFP said that nutrition assistance to children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, school meals programs and activities for building the resilience of farmers and pastoralists would continue uninterrupted.

USAID and the WFP both suspended food aid last month to the northern region of Tigray, where a two-year civil war ended in a ceasefire last November, saying large amounts of aid had been diverted and sold.

An aid worker in Tigray, where millions are hungry, said food stocks had been completely depleted as a result, leaving humanitarian agencies unable to help people displaced by the conflict.

Reuters