Ten months after the start of the Tigray war, the United Nations has warned that the humanitarian situation in the northern Ethiopian region is likely to worsen, blaming what it called the aid siege.
Clashes erupted in November 2020 between federal government forces and militants loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Party, TPLF, which controls the region of six million inhabitants. Thousands have been killed and more than two million have been forced to flee their homes.
Although Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, promised immediate victory, the war has been going on for months now, leading to a humanitarian crisis in the Tigray region, which has left 400,000 people facing similar starvation conditions. according to the United Nations.
The acting UN humanitarian coordinator in Ethiopia, Grant Leaity, said in a statement yesterday that demand for aid, cash and fuel had been reduced or eliminated, and food supplies had run out since August 20.
Leaity said the Tigray region is basically under a certain aid siege, where the delivery of essential aid is tightly controlled.
Leaity said at least 100 trucks of food, other necessities and fuel should be imported into Tigray daily to continue meeting demand, but so far, and since July 12, only 335 trucks have entered the province, or equivalent to 9 percent of the 3,900 trucks needed.
Failing to meet humanitarian needs, the UN envoy has warned that the humanitarian situation in northern Ethiopia, and especially in the Tigray region, is likely to worsen, urging Prime Minister Abiy's government to ease sanctions.
Since the outbreak of the conflict, Ethiopian officials and Tigray rebels have blamed each other for the incident, with each side accusing the other of obstructing aid caravans.
And after the rebels re-entered the Afar and Amhara regions, Leaity said the situation in those regions had also deteriorated, with 1.7 million people facing starvation, with hundreds of others displaced by the insurgency.
"The lives of millions of citizens… depend on our ability to reach them with food, nutrition, medicine, and other basic necessities. We need to reach them immediately and without hindrance to prevent starvation and high mortality.
Theft of aids
Ethiopian forces and Tigray rebels have also been accused of aid looting, with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), calling the robbery this week "a major concern for donors."
The head of USAID's mission in Ethiopia, Sean Jones, told EBC state television on Tuesday that during the nine months of the conflict, rival factions had been stealing aid, according to a document released by the US embassy.
TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda on Wednesday condemned the alleged looting for their "unacceptable behavior", but said that while the rebels could not "defend ... a few militant activists in such matters, we have evidence that the looting was largely planned by locals. and groups. ”
At a press conference on Thursday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Billene Seyoum's spokesman once again dismissed allegations that the Ethiopian government was blocking aid.
He said the trucks were "traveling" towards Tigray, adding that the number of checkpoints on the UN-designated road has been reduced to three from seven.
In a separate statement, UN coordinator Leaity condemned the killing of aid workers in Tigray, saying 11 more deaths were reported between January and July this year, bringing the death toll to 23 since the war.
"Once again, we are shocked by this news. Violence against aid workers is unbearable," he said.
