The first shipment of wartime UN food aid to Africa reached the Bosphorus on Wednesday as part of a deal to restore Ukrainian grain supplies via the Black Sea. Marine traffic trackers showed the MV Brave Commander carrying its cargo of 23,000 tons of wheat from Istanbul after leaving the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Pivdenny on Tuesday.
The Turkish Coast Guard expects the Lebanese-flagged cargo ship to arrive in the Sea of Marmara south of the Bosphorus on Wednesday evening before sailing to its final destination of Djibouti next week. The grains will then be loaded onto trucks to be delivered to war and famine-stricken Ethiopia under the auspices of the World Food Program (WFP).
“Opening the Black Sea ports is the single most important thing we can do to help (overcome) world hunger.”WFP Executive Director David Beasley said in a statement. “It will take more than grain shipments from Ukraine to end world hunger, but with the return of Ukrainian grain to world markets, we have an opportunity to prevent this global food crisis from worsening.”he added.
Lack of food
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has contributed to worsening food shortages faced by the world’s poorest countries. WFP, which depends heavily on grain produced in southeastern Ukraine, estimates that 345 million people in 82 countries face “acute food insecurity.” The agreement signed by Russia and Ukraine, which was ratified by the United Nations and Turkey in July, allowed the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports.
It allowed the first shipments of grain to be transported by sea through a safe corridor protected from floating mines. Almost all of these early shipments were for grain and other foodstuffs held in Ukrainian ports and silos during the Russian invasion. Grain supplies will be on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Lviv (western Ukraine).
Source: Le Figaro
