ROME- After a wait of almost four weeks, an aid ship carrying a month’s worth of food supply for 180,000 people finally docked at the Yemeni port of Aden on Tuesday, a World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman said.

 Until now, UN food aid was unable to access Aden and the other provinces in the south of Yemen, with approximately 13 million people – over half of the nation’s population –said to be suffering from “critical or emergency” food insecurity. Although a humanitarian ceasefire had been declared by the UN earlier in July, it was not maintained.

 The docking is significant, as the ship is “the first WFP chartered ship to berth in the port since the conflict erupted in late March," WFP spokeman Peter Smerdon said. He added that: "We have additional ships chartered which are on standby heading towards Aden carrying more food and fuel."

 Last week, food trucks were granted permission to enter the Aden province, after some negotiation by the WFP. However, the docking of an aid ship still remained unfeasible given the ongoing combat in the port area.

 The reason for this obstruction has been the fight between Yemenis and a coalition led by Saudi Arabia, against the Yemen’s dominant Houthi militia. The former side broke stalemate last week when their army seized the airport and pushed the Houthis out of their last stronghold in the west of Aden.

 The WFP has urged the two sides to not obstruct food distribution from the ship and to allow commercial trade to continue for the sake of Yemen’s people, as according to the food assistance branch of the United Nations, they are the only ways to guarantee the nation’s food needs are met.

Mr Smerdon underlined that the Programme can only partially fulfil Yemen’s food needs, and that only commercial trade can plug the gap, with food being imported and delivered across the war-ravaged nation.