A vital delivery. A World Food Program (WFP) convoy entered Ethiopia’s Tigray region on Wednesday (November 16th), the first of its kind since the signing in early November of an agreement to end two years of conflict in northern Ethiopia. . In total, fifteen trucks loaded with foodstuffs were able to access this area ravaged by civil war and famine.
.@WFP convoy just entered North West #Tigray via #Gondar corridor for the first time since June 2021. Critical relief food will now be delivered to communities in Mai Tsebri town in coming days.
More food, nutrition, medical cargo will follow imminently, via all routes possible. pic.twitter.com/CQ7u0AraNM
—WFP_Ethiopia (@WFP_Ethiopia) November 16, 2022
The delivery of humanitarian aid was hitherto prevented by thehe forces and militias of Amhara, a neighboring region, which supported the Ethiopian federal army against the Tigrayan rebels. “Vital food aid will now be distributed in the coming days to the population of the locality of Mai Tsebri”located about thirty kilometers inside Tigray, continues the WFP, and “additional food and medical cargo will follow imminently, via all possible routes”.
The military leaders of the two camps on Saturday initialed a document implementing this agreement, in particular concerning the disarmament of the rebels, the restoration of services and the “unhindered” delivery of humanitarian aid to Tigray. The region has been virtually cut off from the world for more than a year and is in dire need of food, medicine, fuel and access to telecommunications services. According a WFP estimate (article in English), 5.4 million people in Tigray are suffering from hunger due to the recent conflict.