Washington, Apr 9 (AP) The State Department said Tuesday that it had rolled back an undisclosed number of sweeping funding cuts to UN World Food Program emergency projects in 14 impoverished countries, saying it had terminated some of the contracts for life-saving aid by mistake.

“There were a few programs that were cut in other countries that were not meant to be cut, that have been rolled back and put into place,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.

Also Read | Nightclub Roof Collapse: At Least 44 Dead, 160 Injured After Roof Collapses During Singer Rubby Perez Concert in Dominican Republic (Watch Videos).

Bruce said she had no immediate information on which countries had U.S. funding for food aid restored after a dayslong cutoff. She gave no explanation for how some contracts came to be canceled in error.

The World Food Program didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Also Read | Who Is Anurag Bajpayee? Know All About Indian-Origin CEO of Gradiant Arrested in High-End Brothel Probe in Boston.

The Associated Press reported Monday that the Trump administration cut funding to WFP emergency programs helping keep millions alive in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and 11 other countries, many of them struggling with conflict, according to the agency and officials who spoke to the AP.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other administration officials had pledged to spare emergency food programs and other life-and-death aid even as the Trump administration and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development.

All but several hundred of USAID's thousands of contracts for aid and development programs abroad have been eliminated. The new cuts had hit some of the last remaining humanitarian programs run by USAID.

Notices sent over the last week had said U.S. funding for WFP emergency programs in 14 countries were among about 60 being canceled in the Middle East, Africa, Central and South America and the Pacific Islands “for the convenience of the U.S. Government.”

Those latest terminations were at the direction of Jeremy Lewin, a top DOGE lieutenant who was appointed to oversee the elimination of USAID programs, according to termination notices sent to partners and viewed by the AP.

The WFP, the world's largest provider of food aid, had publicly appealed to the U.S. on Monday to reconsider cuts worth hundreds of millions of dollars for food programs.

“This could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation,” WFP posted on X. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)