quickly decided to open an alternative route in the south to transport relief aid to areas seriously affected by the drought. It had extended every assistance to the Joint Relief Partnership, United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations to enable them to carry out their relief operations. In a statement issued on 5 June 1990, her Government had declared its willingness to accept in principle the use of the port of Massawa for the delivery of relief supplies as well as other goods and its readiness to discuss with donors and other concerned parties arrangements for the use of the port; it had greatly welcomed the agreement reached between the United States of America and the Soviet Union to combine their assets jn an airlift operation which was being initiated with the co-operation of the United Nations. 26. However, in an attempt to block those humanitarian efforts, the secessionists had resorted to all kinds of devious tactics. As recently as 24 July 1990, the World Food Programme had sent a technical survey team to the port of Massawa to assess the reopening of the port for the shipment of urgent additional humanitarian supplies. Its vessel had had to be recalled because of the refusal of the secessionists to allow it to dock at the harbour. The Secretary-General and the Governments of the United States of America and many other countries had strongly condemned that reprehensible and inhuman act. In its statement, the United States Government had pointed out that half the people at risk of starvation in the current famine were Eritreans, whom the insurgents claimed to represent, and that the insurgents were endangering the lives of those people by subordinating the relief effort to their political agenda. 27. Those facts showed that the allegations made against the Ethiopian 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing a humanitarian crisis caused by a drought, and the efforts of various organizations and governments to provide relief aid to affected areas. The text highlights the challenges faced in delivering aid due to the actions of secessionists, and the condemnation of these actions by international leaders.

**Category**
Humanitarian aid and relief