Following the signing of a peace agreement earlier this month, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered over 2,400 metric tons of food, medical, nutrition and other lifesaving supplies to Ethiopia’s Tigray region. However, the UN agency warned in a statement Friday that deliveries of humanitarian assistance within Tigray are not matching the needs. WFP and its partners organizations urgently need access to all parts of the northern region to deliver food and nutrition assistance to the most vulnerable people.
© WFP/Photolibrary
The World Food Programme says 96 trucks have transported over 2,400 metric tons of food – enough to feed around 170,000 people - and 100,000 liters of fuel into Tigray since November 15 when its aid operations resumed using all four reopened road corridors. For the first time ever, the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) is conducting flight rotations to transport passengers and humanitarian cargo into Shire airport in Tigray. WFP has just sent in the first UNHAS passenger flight to Mekelle since the end of August, after receiving federal clearances for passenger flights to resume to Mekelle.
Despite newly gained humanitarian access via Amhara into districts in the northwestern and southern zones of Tigray, access into some parts of eastern and central zones of Tigray remain constrained. WFP also continues to deliver food assistance in neighboring Afar and Amhara regions. The UN agency warns that additional funding must be made available by international donors to support both the immediate and long-term needs of people affected by conflict and climate shocks in Ethiopia. WFP is facing a funding shortfall of US$422 million.
In northern Ethiopia, two years of conflict has left more than 13.6 million people in need of humanitarian food assistance. The latest Emergency Food Security assessment of the situation in Tigray, published in August, found 5.4 million people - 90 percent of the region – in need of food assistance. Families in Amhara and Afar are also affected where 7 million and 1.2 million people respectively require food assistance.
During the resumption of hostilities in Tigray between August and November, humanitarian aid had been largely blocked from reaching the region. On November 2, the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray Peoples' Liberation Front (TPLF) announced a ceasefire after ten days of peace talks in Pretoria, mediated by the African Union (AU). The terms of the cease-fire agreement commit the federal government to facilitating unhindered humanitarian access to Tigray. On November 12, military commanders representing Ethiopia’s government and the TPLF signed a deal in Nairobi establishing the modalities for the implementation of the “Permanent Cessation of Hostilities Agreement”.
Across Ethiopia as a whole, 22 million people need food assistance which includes 9.8 million people in the drought-affected southern and southeastern parts of the country, where four consecutive failed rainy seasons have caused crop failures, millions of livestock deaths and left 2.2 million children acutely malnourished.
The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization. The UN agency, awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, is saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to support people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change. The World Food Programme works in over 120 countries and territories. For millions of people worldwide, WFP assistance can make the difference between life and death.
Further information
Full text: WFP accelerates humanitarian operations in Northern Ethiopia, WFP press release, published November 25, 2022
https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-accelerates-humanitarian-operations-northern-ethiopia
Donate to the WFP now
https://donatenow.wfp.org/