The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said a medical aid convoy arrived in the capital of Ethiopia’s war-ravaged Tigray region on Tuesday, the first since a peace deal between the German government and Tigray rebels nearly two weeks ago.

Restoring aid supplies to Tigray was a key part of the landmark deal signed on November 2 to silence guns in the two-year conflict that has killed scores and sparked a humanitarian crisis in northern Ethiopia.

“The first ICRC medical supplies have just arrived in Mekele,” ICRC Ethiopia spokesman Jude Fuhnwi told AFP.

The agency said on Twitter that two trucks had delivered medicines, emergency and first aid kits to help health facilities in Tigray treat patients with conditions that needed urgent treatment.

“This shipment of aid is the first since fighting resumed last August and the signing of the Pretoria and Nairobi Accords,” the ICRC added in a statement.

It referred to the “cessation of hostilities” agreement signed by the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in South Africa on Nov. 2 and a follow-up agreement reached in the Kenyan capital on Saturday.

The warring parties had agreed in Nairobi to facilitate immediate humanitarian access to “all those in need” in Tigray and the neighboring regions with immediate effect.

Tigray, a region of six million people, suffers from severe food and medicine shortages and limited access to basic services like electricity, banking and communications, with the UN warning many people are on the brink of starvation.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed promised to fulfill the commitments made in the peace agreement and “to make our promise come true”.

In addition to restoring aid and a cessation of hostilities, the deal calls for the disarmament of TPLF fighters and the restoration of federal authority over Tigray.

International pressure for a ceasefire had increased since fierce fighting erupted in northern Ethiopia in late August after a five-month truce, with pro-government troops seizing a number of key cities in Tigray.

Responding to questions from lawmakers, Abiy said: “We discussed and signed (the agreement).

A Twitter post from his office later quoted him as saying: “We must keep our word by delivering on our promise. We have to work hard to avoid problems during the process.”

Abiy has previously said that the Ethiopian government has secured 100 percent of what it sought in negotiations with the TPLF.

Observers have pointed to many challenges ahead, including the aid problem and the thorny issue of West Tiger, a contested region occupied by pro-Abiy Amhara militias since the war broke out.

The peace agreement makes no mention of the region, raising fears of further conflicts in the future.

But Abiy said the issue could be resolved through constitutional means, including a possible referendum.

“We didn’t go to Pretoria to discuss whether Wolkait (in western Tigray) belongs to Amhara or Tigray as it is neither the place nor the time,” he told lawmakers.

The region is claimed by Tigrayans and Amharas.

The conflict between the TPLF and pro-Abiy forces – which include regional militias and the Eritrean army – has left untold deaths, displaced more than two million people from their homes and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation.

But Abiy made no reference to the presence on Ethiopian soil or a possible withdrawal of Eritrean troops who have played a crucial role in the conflict but have been accused of committing atrocities.

Neither the Pretoria nor the Nairobi agreements mention the Eritrean army.

The war in Africa’s second most populous country began in November 2020 when Abiy, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, sent troops to Tigray and accused the TPLF of attacking federal army camps.

The TPLF had dominated national politics for almost three decades until Abiy took office in 2018.