World Food Program says its ramping up aid to reach 3 million Ethiopians. Millions more are in need

By The Associated Press

The U.N.’s World Food Program says it is aiming aims to reach up to 3 million Ethiopians affected by climate change and conflict in the coming weeks. That’s half the number the agency supported in Ethiopia before a monthslong aid suspension last year. The program said in a statement issued on Tuesday that it was “working at pace to deliver food assistance” in Ethiopia’s Tigray, Afar, Amhara and Somali regions. The United Nations and the United States halted food aid for the Tigray region in March 2023 because of a scheme by Ethiopian officials to steal humanitarian grain. The pause was eventually extended nationwide. The food deliveries later resumed but on a small scale.