
“All 50 trucks just arrived safely in #Mekelle, bringing essential humanitarian supplies including:
➡️1,000mt of wheat & pulses
➡️700mt of health, nutrition & WASH items
+ 115,000 litres of fuel” (World Food Programme Ethiopia, 15.04.2022).
Since the humanitarian truce of 24th March 2022 and that is 22 days of supposed opening of entry to the Tigray region. However, previously there has only come about 21 trucks into the region early in April. Now by the middle of the month on the 15th April it has come another 50 trucks. The United Nations and World Food Programme (WFP) praising the FDRE over it is obnoxious. When you know how the state has been working and using food insecurity as a weapon.
The region by previous estimates of needs are 100 trucks per day. In the middle of only the humanitarian truce by now. It would mean the UN and WFP should have driven convoys of a 100, every single day. However, they are barely scraping that after two famous entries of about 75 trucks on max. That isn’t something to salute. In the time of the Humanitarian Truce the region should have seen about 2000 trucks and such. To be exact, the state should have ensured that the region could see 2200 trucks get into Tigray.
The recent OCHA reports states the situation like this:
“Humanitarian partners have not been able to move any additional aid supplies into Tigray via the Semera-Abala-Mekelle since the convoy of 20 trucks with food and nutrition supplies and one fuel tanker that arrived on 1 and 2 April, the first convoy since 15 December 2021. Humanitarian organizations in Tigray are facing growing challenges in reaching people in need due to shortages of essential supplies, and the continuing suspension of basic essential services, including banking, electricity, and communications. Food partners, for instance, remain with only around 1,300 metric tons (MT) of food commodities within Tigray out of which, there is merely enough stock or 360 MT to feed about 21,000 people with a balanced three-commodity food basket for one round. Between 4 and 8 April, humanitarian partners airlifted 100 MT of nutrition and medical supplies to Mekelle, Tigray. As of 11 April, the total amount of medical and nutrition supplies airlifted since the first cargo flight on 24 January is about 538 MT, equivalent to only 13 trucks of humanitarian supplies. The supplies included about 36 MT of HIV anti-retroviral medicines, the first time since July 2021. This will be enough to treat 46,000 HIV patients for six months. The airlifts remain limited to low quantities between 5 and 13 MT per flight and were prioritized according to the most urgent lifesaving needs, therefore cannot fill in the significant gap between the needs on the ground and the supplies delivered” (OCHA, 14.04.2022).
“More than 9 million people need food assistance in northern Ethiopia and food assistance will be required throughout 2022 across northern Ethiopia. Provision of food assistance in hard-to-reach areas in Tigray, Amhara and Afar. Increased food needs due to increased number of IDPs in parts of Amhara and in Afar” (OCHA, 14.04.2022).
So, when you read what the last round of humanitarian assistance was able to help, which is about 21,000 people. You know the amount of trucks of humanitarian assistance versus the needs of the millions of people. It is easy to see the gaps which is enormous. This just shows how the humanitarian assistance have been weaponized and it’s a man-made famine.
The entries of the about the 75 trucks is only an anomaly and only patches the hurt, but it doesn’t fix the problems. This isn’t something to celebrate or sound victories. No, this is just disgraceful and shows how distasteful the FDRE are. The FDRE and Tripartite Alliance has created this monster, they are proud of blocking people’s ability to eat and starve them on-mass. That’s why they have allowed 75 trucks in a period the state should have seen over 2000 trucks should have entered the same area. That’s how unserious and careless they are about the plights of the Tigray region. The Addis Ababa and Asmara ruling elites wouldn’t care if Mekelle would burn to the ground and be left in the dust. That is what they are doing and we are not supposed to say anything.
The 75 trucks isn’t worth texts of gravitas and sending pigeons to Bahir Dar. No, it deserves contempt, as much contempt as the current regime has for the Tigray region. Peace.















