The World Food Program (WFP) has warned that despite having already delivered more than 2,400 tons of food to Ethiopia’s Tigray region, unrestricted and urgent access to the region is needed to provide humanitarian assistance to some 2.3 million people in vulnerable situations.
The agency said in a statement on Friday that 96 trucks have transported more than 2,400 tons of food to needy areas in Gondar, Kombolcha and Semera, which translates into assistance to some 170,000 people, as well as 100,000 liters of fuel since November 15.
«For the first time, the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) is conducting flight rotations to transport passengers and humanitarian cargo to Shire Airport in Tigray. WFP has just sent the first passenger flight to Mekelle since the end of August after receiving federal clearances,» he said.
Although humanitarian access has been achieved through Amhara to districts in the northwestern and southern areas of Tigray, there are still some places where workers cannot deploy, affecting, according to WFP data, about 170,000 mothers and children.
WFP has also reported that more than 100,000 people in Mai Tsebri in the northwest and Alamata in the south have received humanitarian assistance since roads to Tigray reopened. This is in addition to some 540,000 people in Mekelle in early November.
In total, the agency has reached 29 percent of the total population, some 2.1 million people, since the beginning of November. WFP recalls that across Ethiopia, some 22 million people are in need of food assistance.
WFP’s areas of operation also include Afar, with 650,000 people reached three times this year, as well as in Amhara, where it is delivering humanitarian assistance to at least 675,000 people for the fourth time in 2022.
