Bridge key to delivering aid to Ethiopia's Tigray destroyed

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - A bridge that's crucial to delivering desperately needed food to much of Ethiopia's embattled Tigray region has been destroyed, an aid group said Thursday, as Tigray fighters were said to be approaching other combatants occupying large areas nearby.

The destruction of the bridge over the Tekeze River 'œmeans aid efforts will be even more severely hampered than before,'œ the International Rescue Committee said in a statement. Tigray has the world's worst hunger crisis in a decade, with the United States saying up to 900,000 people face famine conditions,

It was not immediately clear who destroyed the bridge on a main supply route linking western Tigray, which is occupied by forces from the neighboring Amhara region, and the rest of Tigray.

The Tigray forces, emboldened after retaking the regional capital this week in a stunning turn in the eight-month war with Ethiopia's military, have taken control of key towns this week, and several thousand fighters had been seen to be moving west.

The spokesman for the Tigray forces this week told The Associated Press they would 'œliberate'ť the region from 'œenemies'ť including the Ethiopian forces, Amhara forces and soldiers from neighboring Eritrea.

Ethiopia's government, under pressure from battlefield losses amid some of the fiercest fighting of the war, this week declared an immediate and unilateral cease-fire. Witnesses have seen Eritrean forces retreating toward the border Eritrea shares with Tigray.

Amhara authorities have warned the Tigray forces against trying to retake western areas.

The Amhara regional spokesman, Gizachew Muluneh, told the AP an investigation would be carried out into the bridge's destruction. Ethiopian military spokesman Col. Getinet Adane said that 'œwe have the information about it but it will be disclosed in a press conference.'ť

Humanitarian aid groups have been badly constrained in Tigray, with electricity and communications links still cut in the region and main supply routes blocked.

In one case, a 29-truck convoy carrying World Food Program aid was denied access and had to return to the Amhara region earlier this week, a U.N. humanitarian worker said. The worker spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

A WFP spokesman, Peter Smerdon, told the AP the bridge's destruction 'œwill have an impact, but we are currently assessing how much of an impact and whether there is an alternative route we could use to bring in urgently needed food stocks from Gondar to our warehouses in Shire.'ť

He did not say how soon those Shire warehouses would be empty if a supply route cannot be found. The rainy season now beginning in Tigray will further complicate matters.

The cease-fire is limited; Ethiopia's government has said it will last only until the end of the crucial farming season in Tigray, which means September.