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RENEWED clashes in northern Ethiopia have forced desperately needed aid deliveries to a halt in Tigray, the UN said, exacerbating a humanitarian crisis triggered by the nearly two-year war between pro-government forces and Tigrayan rebels.

The resumption of fighting late last month shattered a tenuous truce agreed in March that had allowed aid convoys to travel to the stricken region’s capital Mekele for the first time since midDecember.

In its first situation report since fresh clashes broke out on August 24, the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA said this week that the violence was “already impacting the lives and livelihood of vulnerable people, including the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian assistance”.

“The last humanitarian convoy to enter Tigray before the interruption was the humanitarian convoy on 23 August consisting of 158 trucks with humanitarian and operational supplies,” the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. | AFP

Ukraine

WITH Ukraine dependent on Western military aid following Russia’s invasion and Moscow burning through stocks and under sanctions, both sides fear exhausting their shells, bombs and missiles, experts say.

Moscow’s economic exclusion means it is “having to buy artillery rounds from North Korea”, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said recently, pointing to deals for “millions of rounds, rockets and artillery shells”.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence said this week it “is likely that Russia is struggling to maintain stocks” of drones. Sanctions make it difficult for Moscow to obtain the vital components needed to replace drones destroyed in combat.

The Kremlin has reportedly struck a deal to buy drones from Iran. Western governments and Kiev say the invaders are suffering from serious logistical difficulties.

Precision strikes with high-tech Western weapons are undermining Russia’s ability to fight and Moscow is turning to outdated arms as its stocks of more modern gear run down. | AFP

Burundi

BURUNDI’S parliament swore in a new prime minister this week, a week after President Evariste Ndayishimiye warned that some people were plotting to overthrow his government.

The parliament said in a tweet it had voted to approve Gervais Ndirakobuca, previously minister for security and internal affairs, following his nomination by Ndayishimiye.

Ndirakobuca, who replaces Alain Guillaume Bunyoni, is under EU sanctions for his role in quashing demonstrations during political unrest in 2015. | AFP