The first humanitarian shipment of grain from Ukraine by the World Food Programme (WFP) has arrived in Ethiopia, a UN spokesman said.
The WFP said the grain, delivered under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by Turkey and the UN, will support one month of assistance for over 1.5 million people who have been displaced by drought and conflict, Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said at a briefing here.
The grain is currently being unloaded in the WFP’s main warehouse in the city of Adama and will be distributed in the coming weeks, Xinhua news agency quoted the spokesman as saying.
Conflict, drought and rising costs drive food insecurity across Ethiopia. With 20 million people needing food aid in Ethiopia, the WFP said supply chain stability is critical to its work, according to the spokesman.
“We’re being told by our humanitarian colleagues that fighting in the north of the country continues to impact vulnerable people and the delivery of aid,” he said.
“In parts of Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions, tens of thousands of people are reportedly being displaced by fighting and insecurity.”
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He said there had been no humanitarian convoy movements into Tigray for two weeks, preventing the delivery of supplies, including additional fertilizer for the upcoming planting season.
The twice-weekly UN Humanitarian Air Service flights between Addis Ababa and Tigray’s regional capital of Mekelle also were suspended.
In eastern and southern Ethiopia, the drought continues, with more than 16 million people targeted for humanitarian assistance.
Across Ethiopia, more than 8 million people impacted by drought had received food aid this year, he said.
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