More than a month after relief organizations restarted grain supplies after a protracted delay due to theft, an assistance letter obtained by The Associated Press indicates that only a small portion of the poor in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray area are receiving food aid.
According to the letter by the Tigray Food Cluster, a coalition of assistance organizations co-chaired by the United Nations World Food Program and Ethiopian officials, only 14% of the 3.2 million individuals targeted for food aid by humanitarian groups in the region this month had received it by January 21.
The document threatens that “failure to take prompt action now would result in extreme food insecurity and malnutrition during the lean season, with possible loss of life,” and it calls on humanitarian organizations to “immediately ramp up” their operations.
The U.N. and the U.S. halted food aid to Tigray in March last year after discovering a large-scale grain theft scheme. The suspensaeion was rolled out to the rest of Ethiopia in June. Humanitarian donors blame Ethiopian government officials and the country’s military for the fraud. The U.N. and U.S. lifted the pause in December after introducing reforms to curb theft, but Tigray authorities say food is not reaching those who need it. Aid agencies are struggling with a lack of funds and technical issues causing delays.
Around 20.1 million people across Ethiopia need humanitarian food due to drought, conflict, and a tanking economy. The U.S.-funded Famine Early Warning System warns that crisis levels of hunger or worse are expected in northern, southern, and southeastern Ethiopia throughout at least early 2024.
(Africanews)
