The UN World Food Programme (WFP) was ordered by Washington to stop work on dozens of US-funded grants, according to an email seen by Reuters, that was sent five days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a waiver for emergency food assistance.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) grants, at various stages of progression, are worth tens of millions of dollars and provide food assistance in impoverished countries including Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Haiti and Mali.

The US State Department and the World Food Programme did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Several of the suspended grants are under the Food for Peace Title II program, which spends about $2 billion annually on the donation of U.S. commodities. The program, which makes up the bulk of US international food assistance, is co-administered by the US Department of Agriculture and USAID.