The first is that the Eritreans, and other armed groups in Northern Ethiopia, have continually called for a truce to allow for the distribution of relief supplies. But the military dictatorship in Addis Ababa has refused to respond - because they refuse to admit openly that a war is going on. Meanwhile their air force continually harasses relief efforts in the guerrilla-held areas where most of the famine victims live. I saw unexploded Ethiopian cluster bombs in fields of sorghum near the Eritrean village of Agra. The only possible targets for such bombs are farmers trying to feed themselves and their communities.
Food is distributed at night in order to avoid discovery from the air.
On the Ethiopian side the relief effort consists of setting up feeding centres in the larger towns. This means people have to walk for days and often arrive too weak for the food to make much difference. By the time they get home the supplies they carry are pretty depleted. Which is the most effective aid channel is not about good guys and bad guys but about the simple logistics of how the war is being fought. There are no shortage of charges and counter charges.