News comes after nearly a thousand contractors laid off or furloughed, and USAid website and X account removed<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thousands gathered at the US Capitol on Wednesday after the shock announcement on Tuesday evening that the US Agency for International Development (USAid<\/a>) was putting nearly all of its employees on leave<\/a> and recalling thousands of officers from their postings abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The news came only days after nearly a thousand contractors were laid off or furloughed, the USAid<\/a> website was taken down, and its X account was deleted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Protesters gathered near the Capitol under chilly, overcast skies and chanted: \u201cLet us work!\u201d and \u201cUSAid! USAid!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are in a very, very dire place,\u201d Jeremy Konyndyk, a top USAid health official under Barack Obama and Joe Biden, told the crowd. \u201cThe attempt to kill USAid will kill people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Competitors such as Russia and China were cheering this decision, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His voice rose as he addressed members of Congress in the halls behind him \u2013 especially lawmakers, he said, who had supported the agency and its work for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou know that what is being said about USAid is not true,\u201d Konyndyk said. \u201cSpeak up! Where are you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a dictatorship in the making,\u201d Ed Markey, a senator from Massachusetts, told the crowd. \u201cThis is an example\u201d of what the Trump administration<\/a> can do to agencies such as the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are the moral force of the world,\u201d Markey said. \u201cThe only way to take back our government is to take to the streets by the millions to demand justice, not just for our country but for people around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nearly all of USAid\u2019s work, which includes preventing HIV and famine as well as rebuilding nations after conflict and improving education, was halted unexpectedly on 24 January for a 90-day review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Experts say the erasure of the agency is a test run for the Trump administration, which has also put agencies such as the Department of Education<\/a> and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) in its crosshairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is showing that you can do a slash-and-burn to the American governmental apparatus, including foreign aid,\u201d Joia Mukherjee, chief medical officer of the non-profit Partners in Health, told the Guardian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While USAid has enjoyed bipartisan support in the past, it\u2019s now a target for conservatives. But Mukherjee said that nothing about aid work had changed in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think the fidelity to Trump changed,\u201d she said. Members of Congress are \u201cafraid of Trump\u201d, she added. \u201cThis is just a loyalty test.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n