BY JIBRIL TURE

In a statement attributed to the U.S. State Department’s spokesperson, Ned Price, on Tuesday, August 30, the United States government welcomes the arrival in Djibouti of 23,300 metric tons of Ukrainian grain aboard the ship Brave Commander. Ethiopia, Somalia and other African countries that are dangerously affected by food insecurity after four years of drought will be the beneficiaries of the grain. The U.S. government says it is grateful for the crucial role the government of Djibouti has played to facilitate the flow of humanitarian goods to the region.

The office of the State Department notes:

“As part of a more than $68 million recent contribution by the United States to the World Food Program (WFP), this grain is among the first shipments of Ukrainian agricultural products exported from the Black Sea to reach some of the world’s most food insecure countries since the beginning of Russia’s unjustified, full-scale attack on Ukraine on February 24.”

As the largest contributor to the WFP, the United States has provided $5.7 billion to the organization since October 2021. Since February of this year, the U.S. government has provided over $5.4 billion in humanitarian assistance to scale up emergency food security operations in food insecure countries globally.

Ukrainian agricultural products are critical to global food security. With respect to this, the office of the State Department spokesperson notes:

“The United States supports the Turkey and UN-brokered deal between Ukraine and Russia to resume Ukrainian agricultural exports via the Black Sea, and we are closely monitoring Russia’s adherence to the deal’s terms. We call on Russia to immediately cease its war on Ukraine, which would do much to address the recent spike in global food insecurity.”

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