Washington - President Issaias Afeworki of Eritrea said yesterday he was ready to allow emergency food aid shipments through his country to famine-stricken Ethiopia, despite the a state of war between the two nations.
Mr Afeworki said he had "responded positively" to appeals, particularly one from the United States, for a humanitarian corridor to be set up, leading from the Eritrean port of Assab, south through battle lines at the Ethiopian border.
"This is a humanitarian catastrophe," the visiting leader said, referring to the drought that has left some 10 million Ethiopians in famine or near-famine conditions.