New Delhi: The United Nations announced, on Friday, the movement of a ground aid convoy to the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia, the first since mid-December.
“This morning, the first convoy carrying 500 metric tons of food moved to Tigray,” Deputy Spokesman for Secretary-General Farhan Haq said at a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York.
“This is the first time that the United Nations and its partners have been able to transfer aid to Tigray by land since mid-December,” he added.
This step comes after the Ethiopian government announced, on March 24, an open unilateral humanitarian truce in the country, followed by the announcement of the “Tigray Front” to abide by it.
According to the UN spokesperson, food aid has also reached local communities in the Afar region (adjacent to the region).
“Now it is important that we see sustainable deliveries of relief supplies, fuel and cash to Tigray, and that we sustainably expand the response in the conflict-affected areas of Afar and Amhara (north),” Haq said.
War broke out in Ethiopia in November 2020, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent federal forces to Tigray to control local authorities emanating from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front after it was accused of attacking an army barracks.
Abi Ahmed justified the move by saying that the front forces attacked the federal army camps, and he vowed to achieve a quick victory.
