Relief convoys began moving again through the northern corridor after a two week suspension, following negotiations over access arrangements that agencies said had been the longest interruption since the route opened.
The first convoy carried food staples, water treatment supplies and medical consumables to distribution points serving an estimated population in the low hundreds of thousands. Agencies described the initial delivery as a fraction of accumulated need.
The backlog
Coordinators estimate that clearing the backlog will take several weeks at current throughput, which remains below the levels recorded before the suspension. Capacity is limited by the number of vehicles cleared for the route and by inspection times at the crossing.
Medical supply is the most acute shortage. Two of the four functioning health facilities in the area had reduced services during the suspension, and agencies reported that stocks of several essential medicines had run down entirely.
The corridor opening matters. Whether it stays open long enough to clear what has accumulated is the question that determines the outcome.
Under the revised arrangements, convoys are subject to inspection at a single designated point rather than at multiple stages along the route. Agencies had argued that the previous multi stage process made scheduling unworkable and accounted for much of the lost capacity.
The arrangement is described as provisional and subject to review in one month. Agencies have asked for a longer commitment, saying that predictability is necessary to plan procurement and staffing.
