The World Food Program said that food aid from the United Nations has reached only half of the intended recipients in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, according to the Voice of America website.
The WFP said in a statement that it provided food to a million people in Tigray in June and July, noting that the lack of fuel and transportation prevented aid from reaching another million people in the war-torn region.
The United Nations had earlier estimated that 5.2 million people – 90% of the population of Tigray – needed food aid.
The Food Program pointed out that people in the region have been suffering “due to the lack of humanitarian support over the past month, and we need to reach them now before they fall into starvation.”
The World Food Program called on all parties to agree to a ceasefire and to ensure the unimpeded flow of humanitarian supplies into Tigray, so that “necessary food and other emergency supplies can be delivered safely before it is too late”.
Violent battles erupted last November between the federal government in Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused the TPLF forces of attacking government forces’ camps.
The war in Ethiopia has caused a devastating humanitarian crisis in most of Tigray, while tens of thousands of people have fled to neighboring Sudan since the conflict began.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared a unilateral ceasefire in late June after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front forces once again took control of the capital, Mekele.
Senior US officials urged the Tigray People’s Liberation Front to withdraw from the eastern and southern regions of the region, and called on all parties to stop hostilities and focus instead on addressing the humanitarian “disaster” in the region.
