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The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said on Tuesday that it is “receiving reports of rising hunger and malnutrition in Tigray”. Tigray Region is recently liberated from the stronghold of Tigray peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) militias by the federal army.
“Although it is still not possible to determine the full extent of the impact of the crisis on the food insecurity of the population, three months of conflict and the dire lack of access to food is exacerbating an already dire situation caused by COVID-19 and locust infestation,” it said.
“Many farmers have missed the harvest season and with regional trade blocked, food is extremely scarce in the local markets. While partial services have been restored in some major towns, electricity, banking, communication and transportation services have yet to be restored in most of the region. Access to cash and banking services is only available in Mekelle,” UNOCHA said
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The Public Procurement and Property Disposal Service (PPPDS) annulled the two milling wheat procurement awards for the purchase of 600,000 metric tons on two different bids.
PPPDS had awarded two companies for the supply of the milling wheat on behalf of National Disaster Risk Management Commission and Ethiopian Trading Business Corporation early November, while both foreign companies have disappeared to come up with the bid performance bond until the deadline of early this week.
PPPDS had awarded Rosentreter Global Food Trading to supply the 400,000 metric tons of milling wheat for Ethiopian Trading Business Corporation.
The grain that procured on the aim to stabilize the market was awarded to the Turkish firm at the cost of USD 76.89 million as per the bid offer opened October 13, 2020.
Mysterious wheat deals complicate hunger fight in Ethiopia
Samuel Gebre, Agnieszka de Sousa and Simon Marks, Bloomberg
Jan. 17, 2021
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Soft red winter wheat is unloaded from a grain cart during harvest in Kirkland, Ill., on July 17, 2020.Bloomberg photo by Daniel Acker.
Back in November, Ethiopia unveiled two deals to buy deeply discounted wheat from suppliers that seasoned traders had never heard of. A website named for one of the companies listed a German address that didn t exist and appeared to use stock photos of models.
Two months on, it remains a mystery who was behind the deals or what their motivation was, especially as Ethiopia says it hasn t lost any money. One thing is clear though: no wheat has been delivered. The government has now canceled the tenders and plans to start over.
Geneva ‘Food supplies are very limited, widespread looting is reported and insecurity is high.’
Food shortages, widespread looting, and sexual violence were among the findings in the first on-the-ground look at the situation in Tigray by UN and Ethiopian officials. A report released last week by the UN’s emergency aid department, OCHA, outlines an emerging humanitarian situation, with more than two million people in need of assistance due to recent fighting between federal government forces and troops loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
Overall access to the region and communications have been constrained by the central government, making first-hand assessments difficult. Speaking in Geneva on 6 January, at an online briefing hosted by the Geneva Press Club, Ethiopia’s human rights commissioner, Daniel Bekele, said greater access to media, human rights groups, and international organisations should be allowed. He said civilian-military coordination is