Status: 04/02/2022 01:57 am
For the first time since late 2021, a UN aid convoy has reached the war-ravaged Tigray region of Ethiopia. 13 trucks delivered food for people who, according to the UN, were “on the verge of starvation”.
According to the UN, the first aid convoy has arrived in the Ethiopian crisis region of Tigray in three months. The UN World Food Program announced on Twitter that 13 trucks had arrived safely in the regional capital Mekele. The delivery includes more than 500 tons of food for the people of Tigray who are “on the brink of starvation”.
Ceasefire after 17 months
The Ethiopian government and the Tigray-ruling rebel group TPLF announced a cessation of hostilities last week after around 17 months of military conflict. However, both sides made demands. The government in Addis Ababa demanded that the TPFL withdraw from areas in neighboring regions. The rebels, in turn, called for “concrete measures” for humanitarian aid and their decoupling from political issues. Both sides accused each other of blocking necessary aid supplies.
TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda tweeted that 20 World Food Program trucks had entered an area controlled by frontline fighters. The fighters had said they would honor the government-declared ceasefire if aid shipments reached Tigray. It’s a good step in the right direction, Getachew tweeted.
Government spokesman Legesse Tulu reiterated demands that Tigray fighters withdraw from Afar and Amhara regions. “We call on the international community to put pressure on the TPLF warriors,” he told the AP news agency.
Hundreds of thousands of people at risk of starvation
According to the UN, the humanitarian situation in the northern Tigray region is catastrophic. Millions are in need of food aid, but no humanitarian aid has reached the region since December. Hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of starvation. According to UN estimates, 90 percent of the six million people in the Tigray region are in urgent need of humanitarian aid. 100 truckloads of food are needed every day to feed the people.
The armed conflict began in November 2020 with an offensive by the Ethiopian armed forces after the TPLF, which governs Tigray, repeatedly questioned the authority of the central government. The TPLF initially lost control of most of the region before repelling the Ethiopian troops. The conflict then spread to Tigray’s neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar.