A ship carrying grain from the conflict-affected Ukraine is heading to the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia will receive over 20 000 tonnes of the consignment under a humanitarian initiative by the World Food Programme.
The move follows a deal brokered by the United Nations and aided by Turkey that had Russia and Ukraine agree to restart shipment of wheat.
The United Nations says the ship carrying 23 000 metric tons of wheat will dock at Djibouti port, from where the wheat will be offloaded and transported to Ethiopia.
The vessel is specifically chartered by the UN, to unblock food shipmens from Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.
More than 10 million people in Ethiopia need humanitarian assistance following a prolonged drought in parts of the country. Ethiopia is one of five countries that the UN considers to be at risk of starvation.
The prolonged dry spell has also affected parts of neighbouring Kenya and Somalia and the World Food Programme estimates that up to 22 million people in the region may be affected by the end of this year.
According to the African Development Bank, the conflict in Europe has created a food shortage in Africa of at least 30 million metric tons.
Africa imports much of its wheat, maize, and soybeans from Russia and Ukraine. Ethiopia is now one of the countries that the bank is assisting to increase its production of wheat internally as part of its plan to increase self-sufficiency.
