FILE PHOTO: Members of Norwegian People's Aid search for mines and explosive devices east of Mosul, Iraq August 16, 2017. Picture taken August 16, 2017. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari/File Photo
OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian People's Aid (NPA), a humanitarian group that helps to demine war zones, will have to lay off more than half of its staff globally, following U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to freeze U.S. foreign aid, it said on Tuesday.
In 2024, NPA received 460 million crowns ($41.05 million) from the U.S. State Department for its demining work, it said, with the funding used in Iraq, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen, as well as other countries that have been at war.
Trump's announcement of a 90-day freeze on U.S. foreign aid on January 20 has caused dismay among aid organisations worldwide.
NPA also receives funding from Norway, as well as Britain, France, Germany, Japan, the European Union and the Netherlands, but it estimated the loss of U.S. help would have "serious consequences for up to half a million people" in the countries where it works.
"As a result of the uncertain situation and the freezing of aid funds, the organisation has now found it necessary to dismiss 1,700 employees on American contracts in 12 countries," NPA said in a statement on Tuesday.
"That means more than halving the workforce of 3,200 employees," NPA said, adding that the freeze affected over 40% of its funding towards demining work.
On Monday, another Norwegian NGO, the Norwegian Refugee Council, said it would have to suspend some of its aid work in nearly 20 countries worldwide.
($1 = 11.2064 Norwegian crowns)
(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche; editing by Barbara Lewis)
