It will be the first food shipment to Africa under a plan brokered by the UN and Turkey in late July.
The first grain ship bound for Africa since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February has docked in the port of Pivdennyi, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister said.
“The cargo ship Brave Commander has arrived at the port of Pivdennyi. Very soon [Ukrainian] Grain will be delivered to Ethiopia,” Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov wrote on Twitter on Friday.
The ship, which docks in Ukraine’s Black Sea port, is set to begin loading wheat for Ethiopia.
It will be the first food shipment to Africa under a plan brokered by the UN and Turkey in late July to release grain trapped by Russia’s war in Ukraine and help millions worldwide.
The cargo ship BRAVE COMMANDER reached the port of Pivdennyi. Very soon 🇺🇦 grain will be delivered to Ethiopia 🇪🇹.
🌏 supports 🇺🇦 in the fight against it #Russian aggression & we do everything possible to prevent a global hunger crisis. #stronger together pic.twitter.com/FL2IuwvBzx
— Oleksandr Kubrakov (@OlKubrakov) August 12, 2022
Months of fighting in Ukraine and a Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports resulted in grain produced in Ukraine, one of the world’s main breadbaskets, being stacked in silos.
This caused food prices to skyrocket around the world and led to hunger in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia.
In recent days, several ships carrying grain left Ukrainian ports under the new deal – but most of those shipments were animal feed and went to Turkey or Western Europe under previous deals.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the ship, named Brave Commander, will take its wheat to Djibouti, a nation on the Horn of Africa, where it will be unloaded and sent to Ethiopia.
“The wheat will go to World Food Program operations in Ethiopia to support drought response in the Horn of Africa as the drought-hit region faces famine threats,” he said.
“It is one of many areas around the world where the near total halt of Ukrainian grain and food products on the world market has made life even more difficult for families already struggling with rising hunger.”
The ship was expected to hold more than 23,000 tons, according to Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry — still just a tiny fraction of the 20 million tons of grain languishing in Ukraine.
A worker loads a truck with grain at a terminal during the barley harvest in Odessa [File: Igor Tkachenko/Reuters]
Ethiopia, along with neighboring countries Somalia and Kenya in the Horn of Africa, is grappling with the worst drought in four decades. Thousands of people across the region have died from starvation or disease this year.
Forecasts for the coming weeks indicate that there will be no fifth rainy season in a row for the first time. Millions of farm animals, the basis of the wealth and food security of many families, have died.
According to a new assessment by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, “Millions of households in Ethiopia will struggle to cope with these shocks.” “The need for food aid is at a record level with up to 15 million people [it].”
While one shipment won’t solve the crisis, the World Food Program nonetheless touted it as an “important step” in getting Ukrainian grain out of the country to the hardest-hit countries. Ethiopian officials did not respond to requests for comment.