The first UN-chartered ship, the MV Brave Commander, in Yuzhne, Ukraine, on August 14, 2022 (AFP/OLEKSANDR GIMANOV)
The first humanitarian ship chartered by the UN to transport Ukrainian grain left the port of Pivdenny in southern Ukraine on Tuesday with some 23,000 tons for Africa, the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure announced.
“The Brave Commander vessel with grain for Africa left the port of Pivdenny. This morning the cargo ship departed for the port of Djibouti, where the food will be delivered on arrival to consumers in Ethiopia,” the report said. ministry on Telegram.
According to him, “23,000 tons of wheat are on board this ship chartered by the United Nations World Food Program”.
Present at the port of Pivdenny on Sunday, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said he hoped that “two or three” additional ships chartered by the UN could leave soon.
This is the first shipment of food aid to leave Ukraine since agreements were signed in July by kyiv and Moscow, via Turkish mediation and under the aegis of the UN, on the export of Ukrainian cereals, blocked because of the war between the two countries.
The first commercial ship left on August 1, and more than 15 ships in total have left Ukraine since the agreement entered into force, according to the count of the Ukrainian authorities, but no humanitarian cargo from the UN had yet set sail.
Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s biggest exporters of cereals, which have experienced soaring prices since the beginning of the war.
According to the World Food Program (WFP), a record 345 million people in 82 countries now face acute food insecurity, while up to 50 million people in 45 countries are at risk of starvation without humanitarian aid.
© 2022 AFP
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