US Aid Cuts ‘Long Overdue,’ Says Zambian President

The reduction from Washington came amid the abolition of the U.S. Agency for International Development earlier this year.

Hakainde Hichilema, shortly after he won the election to become president, in Lusaka, Zambia, on Aug. 16, 2021. Patrick Meinhardt/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. international aid cuts were “long overdue,” Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said in comments printed on Wednesday.

Hichilema said that the reductions from Washington, the abolition of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and cuts to other international handouts had given the southern African nation the opportunity to “take care of our own affairs.”