A convoy of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) carrying medical, food, and water treatment supplies has arrived in Ethiopia’s Tigray region by road for the first time since September 2021.
The delivery of aid supplies followed the recent declaration of a humanitarian ceasefire agreement by the warring parties in the region to allow life-saving assistance to reach those most in need.
Several humanitarian organisations halted their operations in Ethiopia’s Tigray region in January 2022 following an air strike that reportedly killed civilians in a camp for displaced people.
The air strike killed 56 people and injured 30, including children, according to local authorities and eyewitness accounts.
‘The ICRC welcomes the current ceasefire and the willingness of the parties to the conflict to facilitate the passage of much-needed humanitarian aid into Tigray. It is vital that the assistance keeps reaching the region on a regular basis’, ICRC’s Nicolas Von Arx said in a statement.
It is understood that before the convoy’s arrival, the ICRC had conducted almost 40 cargo flights into Tigray, delivering life-saving drugs such as insulin, hemodialysis, oxytocin, tetanus toxoid, gloves and surgical material.
Conflict between federal troops and forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) started in November 2020.
More than 2.1 million people have been displaced, with almost 40 percent of Tigrayans facing food insecurity, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
Source: ICRC
Photo source: ICRC
