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Ethiopia said on Saturday more than 150 aid trucks had entered war-torn Tigray in the past two days, after the United Nations warned of “impending disaster” in the northern region.
A senior UN official said this week that a “de facto aid blockade” was exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Tigray and millions of people were on the brink of hunger.
And the African Union has also urged the Ethiopian government to step up efforts to ensure aid access to the region which has been torn apart by 10 months of conflict.
Ethiopia’s peace ministry said on Saturday that there had been efforts since last week “to better coordinate and facilitate the movement of humanitarian aid” to Tigray.
He said in a statement on Twitter that around 500 trucks carrying food and other aid had entered the area, including 152 in the past two days, and the number of checkpoints had been reduced by seven to two.
The conflict erupted in November when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops to overthrow the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF), the ruling party in the region, saying the move was a response to attacks on military camps .
Although the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize laureate vowed swift victory, the war continued and spread to neighboring Afar and Amhara regions.
The Ethiopian authorities and the Tigrayan rebels have repeatedly accused the other of obstructing humanitarian convoys trying to reach Tigray.
“To worsen considerably”
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a briefing Thursday that the only road to the region – the Semera-Abala corridor in Afar – had not been accessible since August 22.
He said the Afar armed police blocked a UN mission to Abala on August 24 and forcibly entered UN vehicles to return them to Semera, “assaulting, harassing and verbally threatening.” ‘team.
OCHA also complained that although there were twice weekly UN flights from Addis Ababa to Mekele, the capital of Tigray, there had been delays and all passengers , including senior UN officials, were faced with “intrusive and intensive searches” at the airport in the Ethiopian capital.
The interim UN humanitarian coordinator for Ethiopia, Grant Leaity, warned Thursday that the situation in the north would “worsen considerably” and called on all parties to authorize relief “to avert this impending disaster” .
An estimated 5.2 million people, or 90 percent of Tigray’s population, are in urgent need of assistance, he said, including 400,000 already facing conditions of famine.
Millions of people were on the brink of famine, including 1.7 million people in Afar and Amhara regions, he added, saying that “the stocks of humanitarian aid, money and fuel are very low or are completely exhausted “.
The African Union, headquartered in Addis Ababa, also urged the Ethiopian government on Friday to do more to prevent famine in the region.
Last month, the AU announced that it had appointed former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to mediate the conflict, but Tigrayan rebels accused the bloc of “bias” towards the Ethiopian government.
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