Twenty million people “are in urgent need of humanitarian and health assistance,” 15 million of them in the northern regions affected by the Tigray conflict, World Health Organization (WHO) representatives warned Friday.
The conflict is being exacerbated by outbreaks of cholera and measles, with 273 and 6,000 confirmed cases respectively, and malnutrition problems affecting one in five children under the age of 5 in Tigray, said Altaf Musani, WHO’s director of Emergency Interventions. conference.
WHO Ethiopia Operations Director Ilham Abdelhai Nour added that while 5.2 million people in Tigray are in need of humanitarian assistance, the organization has had no access to the conflict area for the past six weeks.
“Before that, between March and August, during the humanitarian truce, we were able to send some aid, albeit a small amount,” he said, pointing out that in regions where malaria cases increased by 80%, they had to suspend their aid programs.
The WHO also had to limit its vaccination programs against Covid-19 to the capital of Tigray, Mekele, the director said, stressing that only 10% of children can participate in vaccination programs in that region.
Ethiopia’s two neighboring regions north of Tigray, Afar and Ahmara, also have humanitarian problems, Nour said.
In Tigray, the level of food insecurity reaches 89% of the total population, according to data from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).
The conflict in Tigray started in early November 2020 when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the federal army, supported by regional forces from Amhara and the Eritrean army, to oust the rebel authorities in the region, the Liberation Front of the Tigray People (TPLF). . .
The TPLF dominated Ethiopia’s ruling coalition for decades before Abiy came to power in 2018 and ousted them.
After five months of humanitarian ceasefires, fighting resumed on August 24.
Tigray is isolated from the rest of the country and has no electricity, telecommunications networks, banks and fuel. The import of humanitarian aid by road and air has also been halted since the fighting has resumed.
The outcome of the conflict, which is largely outside the media’s gaze, is unknown. US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Linda Thomas-Greenfield, estimated that “up to half a million people died” in two years.
The press has no access to northern Ethiopia and communications in the region are disorderly, making independent verification of information impossible.
Source: DN
