Food Aid Remains Out of Reach for Millions in Tigray

GENEVA - The World Food Program is renewing its appeal for unimpeded access to Ethiopia’s northern province of Tigray, where an estimated four million people are suffering from acute hunger.

In a rare bit of good news, the World Food Program says the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service has transported 30 aid workers and urgently needed relief supplies for distribution across Tigray into Mekelle, the provincial capital. The plane, which arrived Thursday, is the first passenger flight into the region in nearly a month. Commercial flights to Tigray stopped June 23. That was several days before Ethiopian authorities declared a unilateral cease-fire after eight months of deadly warfare. Tigray fighters quickly seized Mekelle and took control of the airport.