Hunger and lack of medicines in Ethiopia. The situation is getting worse and help is not enough

Over 1.3 thousand people have died due to hunger and lack of medicine in the last three years in refugee camps from the Tigray region in the northern part of Ethiopia – the AFP news agency reported, citing local authorities.

“The situation is getting worse: federal government aid is insufficient and international non-governmental organizations are also reducing support,” the director of the Tigray regional social affairs office, Gebreselassie Tareke, told AFP. He also accused the authorities in Addis Ababa of limiting financing for the region for several months.

Tareke emphasized that the conflict between Ethiopia and Tigray is compounded by local animosities between the inhabitants of this region and the neighboring state of Amhara, inhabited by the Amharic population, which constitutes approximately one third of Ethiopia's population.

AFP stressed that relations between the Ethiopian authorities and the local administration remain very tense. According to the UN, both sides have been gathering troops on both sides of the border for several weeks. In February, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Tuerk called on “all parties to ease tensions before it is too late.”

In the war that ended over three years ago, separatists from the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) fought government troops supported by local militias and neighboring Eritrea, which was then an ally of Ethiopia. The African Union estimates that at least 600,000 people have died during the conflict that lasted over two years. people. Last November and January this year armed clashes broke out again.

Currently, the Ethiopian government is accusing the Tigray authorities of, among others, about strengthening ties with Eritrea, which gained independence in 1993. This meant that Ethiopia lost access to the Red Sea. Currently, the Eritrean authorities accuse Ethiopia of trying to take over the port of Asaba. (PAP)

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