A United Nations-chartered ship loaded with thousands of tons of Ukrainian wheat destined for some of the millions of people at risk of starvation in the Horn of Africa arrived in Djibouti on Tuesday.
The bulk carrier Brave Commander marks the first ship arranged by the U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP) since Russia launched the invasion of Ukraine in February.
The WFP separately said the second shipment of humanitarian food aid since a landmark deal brokered by Türkiye and U.N. freed up Ukraine’s Black Sea ports last month left for Yemen on Tuesday.
The keenly awaited first aid ship destined for Ethiopia and loaded with 23,000 metric tons of grain, said to be enough to feed 1.5 million people on full rations for a month, docked in the Horn of Africa port city, the WFP said, two weeks after leaving the Pivdennyi port in Ukraine.
The wheat is supposed to be shipped overland to northern Ethiopia, where millions of people in the Tigray, Afar and Amhara regions have faced not only drought but deadly conflict, which has now flared up again.
"We have officially docked! The first WFP ship to carry Ukrainian grain since February has just arrived in Djibouti," WFP executive director David Beasley said on Twitter.
"Now, let’s get this wheat offloaded and on to Ethiopia."
The U.N. agency said food insecurity and malnutrition are a major concern across Ethiopia, with an estimated 20.4 million people in need of food support.
Around 1.5M tons of food left Ukraine
Ukraine’s grain exports have slumped since the start of the war in February because of port closures, driving up global food prices and increasing hunger in some of the poorest parts of the world.
A deal brokered by Türkiye and the U.N. in July helped unblock them, and so far around 1.5 million metric tons of agricultural goods have been exported through the Black Sea initiative, Ukraine said on Tuesday.
A total of 61 cargo ships have left Ukraine since the beginning of August, the Ukrainian Infrastructure Ministry said. It added that six ships with 183,000 metric tons of agricultural products left on Tuesday. The ministry said the Black Sea ports are able to load and send abroad 100-150 cargo ships per month.
Ukraine’s Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky told Reuters on Monday that the country’s agricultural exports could rise to 6 million-6.5 million metric tons in October, double the volume in July, as its seaports gradually reopen.
Still, with a record 345 million people in 82 countries facing acute food insecurity, only a fraction of the total exports have so far been humanitarian aid. Ukraine was the source of half of the grain that WFP bought last year to feed 130 million hungry people.
The MV Karteria, the second ship with humanitarian food aid, left from the Black Sea port of Yuzhny on Tuesday and will stop in Türkiye for the grains to be milled into flour, the WFP said, before it proceeds to Yemen.
Last year, Yemen, where tens of thousands have been killed in the conflict, received nearly half of its wheat imports from Ukraine and Russia. Currently, around 17 million people in Yemen are suffering from acute hunger and its humanitarian appeal for $4.27 billion is currently only 42% funded, U.N. data showed.
"It is paramount to get commodities flowing back into the country (Yemen) and especially grain – for humanitarian and commercial purposes," said WFP’s country director for Yemen Richard Ragan. "This is vital to keep prices at bay."
‘No end in sight’
The WFP has warned that the number of people at risk of starvation in the drought-ravaged Horn of Africa region has increased to 22 million.
Beasley earlier this month called the situation facing the region a "perfect storm on top of a perfect storm, a tsunami on top of a tsunami," as the drought-prone region struggles to cope amid high food and fuel prices driven partly by the war in Ukraine.
"There is still no end in sight to this drought crisis, so we must get the resources needed to save lives and stop people plunging into catastrophic levels of hunger and starvation," he said.
Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are experiencing their worst drought in 40 years and the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization warned last week that the situation is set to get even worse with a fifth consecutive failed rainy season.
An unprecedented four failed rainy seasons have killed millions of livestock, destroyed crops, and forced 1.1 million people from their homes in search of food and water.
"Needs will remain high into 2023 and famine is now a serious risk, particularly in Somalia" where nearly half the population of 15 million is seriously hungry, the WFP said in a statement earlier this month.
Northern Ethiopia has also been wracked by conflict since November 2020 when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray to topple the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) after what he said were attacks by the rebels on federal army camps.