The World Food Program (WFP) has resumed operations in Ethiopia’s Tigray region after fighting interrupted the emergency response last week.

WFP on Thursday provided emergency food aid to 10,000 people displaced by conflict in the Adi Nebried region. He also distributed fortified food to 3,000 women and children, many of whom were malnourished, in Endabaguna. He continues the distributions this Friday, hoping to reach 30,000 people in northwestern Tigray by the weekend.

“We have the teams on the ground, the trucks loaded and ready to go to meet the region’s catastrophic food needs,” said Tommy Thompson, Mekele-based WFP Emergency Coordinator.

Faced with urgent needs, the UN agency has increased the capacity of its warehouses in Gondar, Kombolcha and Mekele to reach a total storage capacity of 60,000 to 70,000 metric tons. If security stabilizes, the centers in Mekele and Shire will also be centers from which aid will be dispatched to cover needs in other areas and to provide storage in case access is reduced. About 15 WFP trucks are to be deployed at Shire.

WFP reiterates its call for “free and unhindered access”

More generally, WFP aims to reach 2.1 million people. It has so far provided emergency food assistance to 1.2 million people in the first phase and an additional 500,000 people in the second phase.

To achieve this, the UN agency is working to reach populations in around 70 woredas or districts. Since February, WFP has distributed 510,000 emergency food rations to children and women in 43 woredas. In June, WFP reached nearly 180,000 children and pregnant and breastfeeding women in all areas of Tigray except the western area.

However, the UN agency believes that serious difficulties threaten the entire humanitarian response in the region. “What we need now is free and unhindered access and secure passage guaranteed by all parties to the conflict, so that we can deliver food safely,” Thompson added. .

The fighting interrupted humanitarian operations in Tigray from June 24. WFP operations were only completely halted for two days, however, before resuming Thursday.

The destruction of bridges has an immediate impact on the delivery of aid

On the ground, the UN agency is currently assessing the security of two other areas in the northwest – Sheraro and Asgede – to determine whether distributions can resume there. WFP is helping food aid partners carry out security assessments with the aim of also resuming humanitarian operations as soon as possible.

Families receive part of WFP’s last food stocks. Lives will be lost if Tigray’s supply routes are not fully opened and if parties to the conflict continue to disrupt or compromise the free flow of goods for WFP and other emergency responders.

As WFP is adjusting its supply lines and exploring alternative routes to Tigray, the destruction of bridges has had an immediate impact on the delivery of food to the region from Gondar. “Two important bridges leading to Tigray from Gondar were destroyed Thursday,” the UN agency warned.

More than 90% of the population of Tigray in need of help

The United Nations agency needs to ensure the safety of its staff, partners, the people it serves and the assistance it provides to reach millions of people in need of healthy food. emergency and nutritional support when hunger peaks in the coming months.

A total of 5.2 million people, or 91% of the population of Tigray, are in need of emergency food assistance due to the conflict that has raged since last November. The latest Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) analysis, carried out in June, found that 350,000 people in Tigray were suffering from catastrophic levels of hunger (IPC 5).

Across the region, 4 million people – 70% of the population – experience high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC 3 or higher). However, farmers in Tigray have missed the month of June, the most favorable month for planting, because of the shortage of seeds and fertilizers.

The main harvest in September will therefore be affected. According to WFP, it is highly likely that large numbers of people will need emergency food assistance and nutritional support until 2022.

Source: Agence Ivoirienne de presse