UNITED NATIONS: Ethiopia has received the World Food Programme's (WFP) first humanitarian grain cargo from Ukraine, a UN spokeswoman said. 

At a briefing here, Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, stated that the WFP stated the grain, delivered under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by Turkey and the United Nation, will support one month of assistance for more than 1.5 million people who have been displaced by drought and conflict.

The grain will be distributed in the upcoming weeks and is now being unloaded in the WFP's primary warehouse in the city of Adama. Food insecurity is a widespread problem in Ethiopia due to conflict, drought, and rising prices. The WFP stated that supply chain stability is essential to its work because 20 million Ethiopians require food help.

"We are being told by our humanitarian colleagues that fighting in the north of the country continues to impact vulnerable people and the delivery of aid," he said.

Tens of thousands of people are reportedly being displaced by war and insecurity in several areas of the Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions. He said, there haven't been any movements of relief convoys into Tigray for the past two weeks, which has prevented the delivery of goods like extra fertiliser for the approaching planting season.

Also, the twice-weekly UN Humanitarian Air Service flights between Addis Abeba and Mekelle, the regional hub of Tigray, were cancelled. Over 16 million people in eastern and southern Ethiopia are in need of humanitarian aid as a result of the ongoing drought. He said, this year more than 8 million Ethiopians who were affected by the drought had received food aid.

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