UAE sends relief plane to Ethiopia's Tigray Region

The UAE, in cooperation with the World Food Programme (WFP), has sent an aircraft carrying food supplies to the city of Mek'ele in Tigray region, Ethiopia, to support the humanitarian effort and help to address quickly the needs of thousands of civilians.

The Emirati humanitarian team accompanied the aircraft and supervised the distribution of rations and food supplies. They conducted interviews with international organisations to determine the needs, especially for the most vulnerable groups, such as women, children and the elderly.

The UAE, which sent 200 tonnes of food supplies to the Tigray region, will support the humanitarian efforts in the region in cooperation with United Nations organisations, given the region's suffering from conflict conditions and the spread of the COVID-19 virus, in support of the stance of the UAE and its leadership with Ethiopia and all peoples of the world to overcome humanitarian crises.

Mohamed Salem Al-Rashidi, Ambassador of the UAE to Ethiopia, said that the UAE is keen on supporting the humanitarian effort in the Tigray region in light of the sparse food supplies.

"The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes this generous contribution from the United Arab Emirates of 200 metric tons of vegetable oil to its emergency relief food response in Tigray. Food supplies are currently running low in the region and WFP plans to deliver the vegetable oil from UAE along with other food, fuel and humanitarian supplies to Tigray by road as soon as possible. We appreciate this timely support from the UAE." said Michael Dunford, WFP’s Regional Director for Eastern Africa and Corporate Response Director for Tigray.

In another statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation expressed the UAE's full solidarity with the Ethiopian people and renewed its call for a commitment to deescalation and returning to dialogue for peace, stability and national unity.