The World Food Program (WFP) has confirmed that the first convoy of trucks carrying food aid has entered the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, nearly two weeks after the Government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) agreed to a cessation of hostilities involving a pact to deliver aid to the area, which has been plunged into a severe humanitarian crisis due to the conflict.
«In Ethiopia, WFP trucks are moving into Tigray with critical food aid. This is the first movement since the signing of the peace agreement,» the agency said through a message on its Twitter social network account. «Critical food assistance will be delivered to communities in the coming days. More shipments such as food, nutrients and medicines will follow,» it added.
Ethiopia’s National Disaster Prevention Committee on Wednesday provided a set of guidelines for the organization of humanitarian aid delivery in the region and acknowledged that the level of people in need of assistance in the African country «is high,» Ethiopian TV channel Fana has reported.
Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen, head of the agency, stressed that the aid will benefit not only those affected by the conflict, but also those affected by droughts in recent years, before saying that the government is providing assistance to displaced people in Tigray and the adjacent Afar and Amhara regions.
He noted that the pressure on the authorities «is high» due to the large number of people affected by the various crises in the country and called on humanitarian organizations and partners to «do their utmost to assist citizens in need of help».
For his part, the head of the Ethiopian Government Communication Service, Legesse Tulu, has assured that the Army’s allied troops, including Eritrean forces, will withdraw from Tigray once the TPLF disarmament process is completed.
Legesse has said that forces that are «not part» of the Army «will withdraw in line with the agreement when it is implemented.» Fighting on the side of the Ethiopian Armed Forces are Eritrean military and members of the special forces from the Amhara and Afar regions.
Finally, he stressed that the agreement signed in the South African capital, Pretoria, is «important», «irrevocable» and «indestructible», while defending that it serves as a «basis» for other similar documents in view of a peace agreement in the African country.
Military delegations of the Government and the TPLF initiated last week in Kenya contacts on the implementation of the clauses of the agreement reached on November 2 in South Africa, as confirmed by the African Union (AU), which is carrying out mediation work. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Tuesday that these talks «are beneficial» and called for «working hard to avoid problems during the process».
«In the name of our peace and prosperity, we adopted the decision to end the war. There is no good war and bad peace. War is bad, regardless of who wins,» he noted. «We have discussed, agreed and signed. Now we must keep our word by making promises come true,» he stressed.
The conflict in Tigray erupted in November 2020 following a TPLF attack on the army’s main base in Mekelle, after which the Abiy government ordered an offensive against the group following months of tensions at the political and administrative level, including the TPLF’s refusal to recognize an election postponement and its decision to hold regional polls outside Addis Ababa.
The TPLF accuses Abiy of whipping up tensions since coming to power in April 2018, when he became the first Oromo to accede to office. Until then, the TPLF had been the dominant force within Ethiopia’s ruling coalition since 1991, the ethnically-supported Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The group opposed Abiy’s reforms, which it saw as an attempt to undermine its influence.
