A SHIP docked in Ukraine today to load grain for the first shipment of World Food Programme aid to Ethiopia to leave the country since Russia invaded on February 24.

A United Nations-brokered deal has allowed ships to export grain via the Black Sea again, following months in which Russian blockades and Ukrainian sea mines placed to prevent naval bombardments prevented exports, which pushed up food prices worldwide.

Ethiopia, along with neighbouring Somalia and Kenya, is facing the worst drought in four decades in the Horn of Africa. Thousands of people across the region have died from hunger or illness this year. Forecasts for the coming weeks indicate that for the first time, a fifth successive rainy season will fail to materialise. Millions of livestock have died.