Two weeks after Abiy Ahmed’s government declared an immediate “humanitarian truce” with Tigrayan rebels to allow aid, the World Food Program said it had received assurances it needed to send 20 trucks containing vital food supplies. As of mid-December, no aid has reached Tigray on the land route from Semera, in neighboring Afar, to Mekelle, the capital of Tigray. In a video posted on the Internet earlier Friday, WFP said the escort contained 500 metric tons of food and food supplies “for communities on the brink of starvation.” A fuel tanker followed behind, but had not yet entered the Tigray, a spokesman added. SUMMER NEWS 🚛🚛🚛🚛🚛🚛 WFP convoys to #Tigray are back on the road and making steady progress! I just arrived in Erepti and will soon be crossing the Tigray, bringing over 500 mt of urgently needed food and nutrition supplies from the WFP / partner to communities on the brink of starvation. pic.twitter.com/UGGgvG3n0d – WFP_Ethiopia (@WFP_Ethiopia) April 1, 2022 The United Nations has accused the Ethiopian government of imposing a de facto embargo on Tigray for months, squeezing the civilian population of key resources as it waged war against the forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Authorities in Addis, meanwhile, have accused the TPLF of causing misery to its own people by carrying out military strikes on key aid routes. Thousands have died and many more have been forced to flee their homes in the 16-month war, and as it continues, the civilian population remaining in Tigray is considered to be in desperate need of food, fuel and medical supplies. According to an estimate in January, at least 2 million people suffer from extreme malnutrition. As of January, some medical and food supplies are flowing by air, but the UN says it is a fraction of what is needed. About 360 metric tonnes of supplies – worth about nine trucks – have been delivered on a series of flights since Jan. 24, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. In a move that surprised many, the Abiy government declared a ceasefire on March 24, saying it hoped the move would facilitate humanitarian access to Tigray and “pave the way for a solution to the conflict.” He called on the TPLF to “stop all acts of further aggression and withdraw from occupied areas in neighboring areas”. The insurgents, in turn, urged “the Ethiopian authorities to go beyond the empty promises and take concrete measures to facilitate unhindered humanitarian access to the Tigray.”
