The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) on Friday said trucks carrying international aid have reached Ethiopia’s war-stricken Tigray region for the first time since December 15, reported Africa News.
The development comes a week after the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan rebels agreed to a conditional truce. Last week, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government declared an indefinite humanitarian truce in the 17-month conflict, with Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) agreeing to a cessation of hostilities.
Both sides had previously accused each other of blocking an aid convoy headed for Tigray, which has not seen any humanitarian supplies arrive by road since December.
“WFP-led convoys to Tigray are back on the road & making steady progress!” the WFP wrote on Twitter. “Just arrived in Erepti (in the neighboring Afar region) & will soon cross into Tigray, bringing in over 500 mt (tonnes) of urgently needed WFP/partner food & nutrition supplies for communities on edge of starvation.”
The TPLF also confirmed that the 20 aid trucks were now in territory under its control in Afar and on their way to Tigray’s capital Mekele.
“This is one good step in the right direction; the bottom line, though, isn’t about how many trucks are allowed but whether there is a system in place to ensure unfettered humanitarian access for the needy!” TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda noted on Twitter.
The conflict between the Ethiopian military and Tigrayan forces erupted in November 2020 when Prime Minister Abiy sent troops into Tigray to topple the TPLF, claiming that the move was in response to rebel attacks on the army camps.
Thousands of people have died in the war, while accounts have emerged of massacres and mass rapes.
According to the UN, the war has displaced more than two million people and driven hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine.
The WFP claims malnutrition and food insecurity are rampant in northern Ethiopia, where an estimated 9 million people across the Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions need critical food assistance due to conflict.
