Red Cross says first medical aid convoy arrives in Tigray
"ICRC's first medical supplies have just arrived in Mekele," the agency's spokesperson in Ethiopia, Jude Fuhnwi, told AFP, following a peace deal between the government and Tigrayan rebels earlier this month.
- Africa
- AFP
- Published Date: 05:39 | 15 November 2022
- Modified Date: 05:53 | 15 November 2022
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said a medical aid convoy had arrived in the capital of Ethiopia's war-ravaged Tigray region on Tuesday, following a peace deal between the government and Tigrayan rebels earlier this month.
"ICRC's first medical supplies have just arrived in Mekele," the agency's spokesperson in Ethiopia, Jude Fuhnwi, told AFP.
The ICRC said on Twitter that two trucks had delivered medicines, emergency and first aid kits to support health facilities in Tigray to treat patients with conditions that need urgent care.
"This aid delivery is the first since the resumption of fighting last August and the signing of the Pretoria and Nairobi agreements," the ICRC added in a statement, referring to deals signed by the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) on November 2.
Tigray, a region of six million people, has been suffering from a severe lack of food and medicine, as well as limited access to basic services including electricity, banking and communications.
The resumption of aid to Tigray, where the UN had warned that many people were on the brink of starvation, was a key part of the peace deal signed in the South African capital on November 2, and a follow-up agreement signed in Nairobi on Saturday.