[ad_1]
Issued on: Modified:
United Nations (United States) (AFP)
Humanitarian convoys have started arriving in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, a United Nations spokesman said on Wednesday, after the area was cut off in early November by a government military offensive.
Fighting has raged since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched military operations against Tigray’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
“Our WFP (World Food Program) colleagues managed to bring in a convoy yesterday. Eighteen trucks delivered 570 metric tons of food,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
The UN had this week expressed frustration at the lack of access to humanitarian aid.
The convoys headed to the Adi Harush and Mai Ayni camps, which are mainly home to refugees from Eritrea, with supplies that would feed 35,000 refugees for a month.
“Supplies will be distributed in the next few days. And other convoys are heading to other camps,” Dujarric said.
“We continue to seek that full and unimpeded humanitarian access that is so critical to reaching the displaced population in Tigray and even the people who have remained in their homes.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delivered its first convoy to Mekele, the capital of Tigray, on Saturday, in coordination with the Ethiopian authorities.
Ahmed, last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, declared victory after federal troops seized Mekele in late November, but the UN has reported clashes in various parts of the region.
© 2020 AFP
