The United Nations says there is a severe shortage of food and humanitarian supplies in northern Ethiopia’s region of Tigray as a consequence of the ongoing conflict there.

The Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebels have agreed a humanitarian truce to allow aid into the region, but both have accused the other side of continuing to obstruct deliveries.

More than 90% of the population in the region is in urgent need of assistance, according to the UN.

Aid delivery only possible by air

No aid trucks have successfully delivered aid to Tigray since mid-December. So aid agencies have been forced to transport supplies by air.

This is far more costly and delivers only minimal supplies.

“Planes carry less cargo at 25 times the cost of truck convoys” says Samantha Power, of the US international development agency (USAID).

“Trucking means more food for war-torn Tigray, but the Ethiopian government continues to block access for trucks.”

During the first week of March, only 100 metric tonnes of humanitarian supplied were transported via air to Mekelle, the regional capital of Tigray, according to the UN, far less than is needed.

About half a million children are estimated to be lacking food in Tigray, including more than 115,000 severely malnourished.

Families are exhausting all remaining means to access food, with three quarters of the population reported to be using extreme coping strategies to survive, the UN says.

“The level of food insecurity is expected to worsen in the coming months as remaining food stocks from the last harvest, which was half of normal year production, get depleted.”

What’s blocking overland routes into Tigray? 

UN aid agencies estimate that 100 trucks carrying food, non-food items and fuel, are required to the deliver the required aid into Tigray every day.

But the main routes have been blocked for many months due to the ongoing conflict.

Continued fighting in the border region between Tigray and neighbouring Afar province to the east has made that route too dangerous.

Read the full article: Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis: What’s stopping aid getting in?

Source: BBC News