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A ship made the first shipment of wheat to Ukraine for food aid in Ethiopia on Friday, the first delivery of food to Africa under the UN-brokered plan to unlock grain held in that country.
For months, the fighting and the Russian blockade kept grain produced in Ukraine, known as the world’s breadbasket, sitting in silos, driving up food prices and triggering famines in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia.
In recent days, several grain-laden ships have left Ukrainian ports under the new deal, except most of the shipments were animal feed and destined for Turkey or Western Europe.
However, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, announced that the first shipment of humanitarian aid from the World Food Program (WFP) to Africa would be made during the day and that after loading the ship it would leave. In the afternoon, the MarineTraffic website showed the ship sailing towards southern Ukraine.
Charles Michel said that the ship loaded with grains would go to Ethiopia and stressed that “the cooperation of all the actors involved is essential” to alleviate food shortages and hunger All over the world. This shipment represents, according to the same official, only a small part of the approximately 20 million tons of cereals that are in Ukraine.
The ship is to dock in Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa.
Ethiopia, along with neighboring Somalia and Kenya, is face the most severe drought recorded in the last 40 years in the Horn of Africa region. Thousands of people across the region are dying of hunger or disease this year.
Forecasts for the coming weeks indicate that, for the first time, there will not be a fifth consecutive rainy season. Millions of animals, the basis of wealth and food security for many families, died.
Millions of families will struggle to cope with these impacts” in Ethiopia, according to a new assessment by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network. “Food aid needs are at record levels, with up to 15 million people needing assistance,” he said.
Although a shipment does not have a significant effect on the crisis, WFP considers it to be an “important step” to take Ukrainian cereals for the most affected nations.
The news of this shipment, which brought a rare glimmer of hope, was clouded by the incessant fighting in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, where much of the fighting is concentrated, at a time when almost six months of war have passed. between Russia and Ukraine. .
The city of Kramatorsk was hit by 11 rockets overnight. Seven people were killed and 14 others injured in and around the town, which remains without gas, running water and electricity.
Source: Observadora
