- The vessel Brave Commander is carrying 23,000 tonnes of grain from Ukraine to Djibouti.
- It is the first such voyage since the Russian invasion six months ago.
- The total shipment will be enough to feed 1.5 million people for a month.
The UN, a ship carrying wheat from Ukraine to the drought-stricken Horn of Africa docked on Tuesday, the first such voyage since the Russian invasion six months ago.
According to the United Nations World Food Programme, the vessel Brave Commander is carrying 23,000 tonnes of grain and will be followed shortly by another carrying 7,000 tonnes.
According to the WFP, the total shipment, which will be unloaded in Djibouti and transported to Ethiopia, is enough to feed 1.5 million people for a month.
That barely begins to address the problems of Eastern Africa, where the World Food Programme estimates that extreme weather, rising food prices, and conflict have resulted in 82 million people requiring food assistance in nine countries: Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda.
“This shipment, the first of many we hope, will allow WFP to deliver this grain to 1.53 million people in Ethiopia and cover their needs for a month. It’s a start but we must continue to keep the food flowing to save lives across the region,” said Michael Dunford, WFP director for Eastern Africa.
Officials hope that the successful voyage will encourage private companies to start shipping grain from Ukraine to Eastern Africa, where rising global food prices and difficulties in raising donor funding have forced the UN to cut rations for refugees and displaced people.
Among them are 150,000 Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia, many of whom have been repeatedly displaced by conflict in the north and whose food rations were reduced to half the recommended amount in June.
“It’s not enough food. People are hungry,” said one Eritrean refugee in Alem-Wach Camp in northern Ethiopia.
“They explained to us the reasons, because of war in Ukraine,” said the man, who declined to give his name. “But it is especially hard because it is so cold now…The situation is so difficult.”
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