UN food agency, Red Cross convoys reach war-ravaged region in northern Ethiopia
NAIROBI, Kenya
Following a cease-fire agreed earlier this month, humanitarian organizations have finally been able to access Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where millions remain in need of urgent assistance.
The UN’s World Food Program (WFP) confirmed that a convoy of its trucks had entered northwestern Tigray via Gondar, a city in the neighboring Amhara region.
“Critical relief food will now be delivered to communities in coming days. More food, nutrition, medical cargo will follow,” the WFP said on Wednesday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also reported that its “test-flight” successfully landed in Shire, a town in northwestern Tigray.
This was the “first humanitarian flight in 2 years since the conflict erupted,” according to the ICRC.
“The resuming of airlifts to Tigray will help carry urgent humanitarian aid to the region more quickly, to alleviate the suffering of thousands needing immediate support,” the aid group said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the ICRC delivered two truckloads of vital medical supplies to Mekelle, marking the first aid delivery since fighting between the Ethiopian government and the rebel group Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) resumed in August after a months-long truce.
There was intense fighting in the northern Ethiopian region over the past few months, with reports of mass casualties and other rights violations.
UN rights experts have accused both sides of committing abuses that border on war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Hostilities have subsided after the two sides signed agreements in Pretoria and Nairobi earlier this month.
The Tigray conflict has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions more since November 2020.
A UN report released late last month placed the number of displaced people at 2.75 million, with some 12.5 million children said to be in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.
