The United Nations announced that it reached a much-needed aid deal with the government of Ethiopia amid the nation’s conflict in its Tigray region.
On Wednesday, the U.N. said Ethiopia promised to allow “unimpeded” humanitarian access to at least the areas under the federal government’s control.
“We are, of course, working to make sure assistance will be provided in the whole region and for every single person who needs it,” U.N. humanitarian spokesman Saviano Abreu told the Associated Press. He also said that on Wednesday, the organization would conduct a needs assessment mission in the region.
The Ethiopian government has yet to comment publicly on the purported agreement.
Aid trucks have been waiting to get into the region for weeks but were blocked at its borders.
“We have been urging, waiting, begging for access,” said Jan Egeland with the Norwegian Refugee Council. “We’re ready to go tomorrow. … It has been heartbreaking to be forced to wait.”
According to the AP, over 1 million people in Tigray are estimated to be displaced. Tens of thousands have fled into neighboring Sudan. Even before the conflict, 600,000 people in Tigray were already dependent on food aid, Reuters reported.
Fighting broke out in the region on Nov. 4 after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed claimed that Tigrayan forces had attacked federal troops. He launched a military assault on the region, and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front fought back.
In recent days, Abiy declared victory over Tigray, claiming his government had control of the region’s capital city of Mekelle, but Debretsion Gebremichael, the leader of the TPLF, says fighting in the capital has continued.
“We are sure we’ll win,” he told the AP on Monday.
Claims from either side of the conflict have been nearly impossible for journalists to verify independently as phone and internet communications in the region have been largely cut off by the Ethiopian government. The BBC reports, however, that phone and internet service are now being restored to parts of western Tigray.
