The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) reported this Friday (11/26/2021) that more than nine million people currently need food aid in the northern part of Ethiopia, involved for more than a year in an armed conflict that does not seems to have a solution in the short term.
The WFP detailed that 9.4 million people are facing famine “because of the conflict” between the government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a figure that in September was 7 million. The entity assured that the humanitarian situation has worsened greatly in Tigray, as well as in the regions of Amhara (the current front line) and Afar, where the fighting has spread.
“More than 80 percent (7.8 million) of the people who need help in northern Ethiopia are far from the front line.” Malnutrition is also increasing in these three regions and affects (according to WFP data ) to between 16 and 28 per cent of children In Amhara and Tigray, 50 per cent of pregnant and lactating women are undernourished.
Fast war that does not end
Tomson Phiri, a WFP spokesman, said in Geneva that the United Nations has reached out to some 3.2 million people in need with aid. Flights by UN agencies with humanitarian aid to Tigray resumed in the middle of this week, after more than a month without access to that region, the spokesman added. Thanks to this, food was delivered to Dessie and Kombolcha for the first time since these cities fell to the TPLF rebels.
This conflict broke out last November, after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner) deployed troops to Tigray in response (according to Ahmed) to TPLF attacks on army camps. The prime minister said then that it would be a swift action and within weeks he had already declared the victory of the federal forces.
However, the rebels in June regained control of the Tigray and extended the fighting to the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar. This week, the TPLF declared that it controlled a town 200 kilometers from the capital, Addis Ababa. The government on Thursday imposed a decree with new restrictions on the dissemination of information about the course of the war.
DZC (EFE, AFP)
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
A city on fire
Residents of the capital of Tigray, Mekele, review the debris left by one of the bombings launched by government forces on October 20. The military say the target was an arms factory operated by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (FLPT), a claim that the rebel forces deny.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
Fumes of war
Smoke from a recent airstrike rises over the streets of Mekele. The tiger fighters accuse the government of having killed civilians with these offensives, but the central authorities insist that they only attack military targets. Neighbors have confirmed that at least one major industrial complex in the city was destroyed by the shells.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
Captured soldiers
Captured by rebel forces, soldiers from the Ethiopian government and allied militias are waiting to be transferred to a detention center. The image is from last October 22. The soldiers were exhibited through the streets of Mekele, aboard convertible trucks, as a show of force, on the same day that four consecutive days of bombardment were completed on the capital.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
Red Cross on the way
An Ethiopian Red Cross vehicle drives through Mekele, following government shelling. The entity has been working tirelessly to provide medical aid and basic shelters in the region. Amid a communication blackout in Tigray, the Red Cross is also vital in reconnecting families separated by conflict.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
Little help
A cargo plane from the aid organization Samaritan’s Purse unloaded supplies at Mekele airport last March. Since then, the flow of humanitarian aid has been severely limited, with barricades on key routes – which prevent the passage of convoys – and air strikes – which force the abortion of flights with supplies.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
A desperate plea
Health workers protest outside the United Nations office in Mekele to condemn the death of patients due to severe shortages of food and medicine. Stocks of supplies are shrinking as malnutrition rates among children skyrocket. But the UN has already announced that it will have to withdraw half of its officials deployed in Ethiopia.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
Victim of war
A victim of the airstrike on Togoga receives medical assistance. On June 22, a market day, the Ethiopian Air Force launched an attack on the tiger city of Togoga, killing 64 civilians and wounding 184. Ambulances trying to help were initially blocked by soldiers, before another convoy broke the fence and took 25 injured to a hospital in Mekele.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
International protests
On the other side of the world, hundreds of people rallied in Whitehall, London, on October 19, carrying flags and shouting slogans for an end to the violence and blockade in Tigray. Many of the protesters were members of the Tigrin, Ethiopian and Eritrean diaspora.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
Pro-government authorities and activists
In September, in Addis Ababa, in front of the office of the UN World Food Program, protesters protested against sending aid to the Tigray. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (FLPT) is classified as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian Government. Authorities and activists accuse their fighters of committing all kinds of atrocities, such as recruiting child soldiers.
Author: Ineke Mules
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9 million Ethiopians need food aid amid war | DW | 11.26.2021
