The United Nations World Food Programme's life-saving food assistance operations in northern Ethiopia are about to grind to a halt because intense fighting has blocked the passage of fuel and food, WFP warned on Friday.
The escalation of conflict across northern Ethiopia means that no WFP convoy has reached Mekelle since mid-December, the UN agency said in a statement.
Stocks of nutritionally fortified food for the treatment of malnourished children and women are now exhausted, and the last of WFP’s cereals, pulses and oil will be distributed next week.
“We’re now having to choose who goes hungry to prevent another from starving,” said Michael Dunford, WFP’s Regional Director for Eastern Africa.
“We need immediate guarantees from all parties to the conflict for safe and secure humanitarian corridors, via all routes, across northern Ethiopia. Humanitarian supplies are simply not flowing at the pace and scale needed. The lack of both food and fuel means we’ve only been able to reach 20% of those we should have in this latest distribution in Tigray. We’re on the edge of a humanitarian disaster.”
More than a year into the conflict in northern Ethiopia pitting the government and allied forces against Tigrayan rebels, an estimated 9.4 million people require humanitarian food assistance, WFP said.
This is an increase of 2.7 million from just four months ago, the highest number yet. At the same time, because of fighting, food distributions are at an all-time low, WFP noted
WFP said it plans to reach 2.1 million people with food assistance in Tigray; 650,000 in Amhara; and 534,000 in Afar Region.
WFP also warned it will likely run out of food and nutrition supplies for millions of people across all of Ethiopia from next month due to "an unprecedented lack of funding".
WFP requires a further US$337 million to deliver its emergency food assistance response in Northern Ethiopia as well as US$170 million to reach those affected by severe drought in Somali region over the next six months, according to the statement.
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