Since November, the Ethiopian federal army has launched a large-scale military operation against TPLF, the power in Tigray province on the border with Eritrea. Violence continues and the humanitarian situation continues to worsen: 5.2 million people are in need, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA. That is 700,000 more than at the beginning of May. Humanists cannot keep pace at the moment as needs continue to increase.
From our special envoy back from Tigray,
In Mekele, the capital of Tigray, people crowd dozens, if not hundreds, per room at Mayweni High School. Displaced people are streaming from everywhere, the site is saturated. Among these wasted conflicts, Tesfaye Bahnou is helping to coordinate aid. “We got some help from international and local organizations. But it’s not enough. There is a lack of food. We see hungry babies, children sleeping on the floor, because there is no more space. Everything breaks your heart. “
Due to satiety, the nearby primary school was in turn turned into a camp for internally displaced persons. In one week, more than 5,000 people gathered there in deplorable hygiene.
Hadoush comes from Humera, in the west. He explains that the new camp “lacks everything. Yesterday, a woman who gave birth died because there was no ambulance. My city was attacked by the millions from Amhara. When I saw pregnant women being stabbed, I took my family and fled without taking anything. ”
In Mekele, a camp with room for 19,000 people is under construction and the situation in the capital Tigray is probably the least worrying.
Saturated camps
In Shire in central Tigray, thousands of people are fleeing to the west under pressure from Amhara’s militiamen and the Eritrean army. The Emba Dansu school has also been transformed into a place for displaced people and has long been overwhelmed. Hagos fled the city of Sheraro. He arrived at the camp less than an hour ago and will not be able to stay. “There are too many people,” he said. I have no choice. I’m taking the risk of going home. There the Eritreans beat up people, kidnap young people we will never see again. The city was emptied. I would be safer here, but there is no room. “
► Read also: Conflict in Ethiopia: is it possible to withdraw Eritrean soldiers?
Yet humanists continue to increase their capacity. In addition to UN agencies, 32 NGOs are active in Tigray instead of the 17 before the war. Almost 1850 non-UN humanitarian workers are in the field. But the needs are too great and the funds are lacking. OCHA is asking for $ 853 million to fund aid through December. 500 are missing, 200 of them just to last until July.
Hunger threatens
In his field, Haleka drives Solomon, encouraging and whipping his oxen to pull the plow faster. The fear in the stomach the farmer works hard and hopes to be able to harvest in October. He explains that the Eritreans ate their cows. “Thoughts crushed all my crops. The soldiers came three times to accuse me of being a TPLF and to beat me. So when I see it go by, I sit down and wait. I’m terrified, but I do not run away, otherwise they think I’m a rebel. ”
The man represents the coming crisis. Farmers have been killed, their equipment broken, their livestock eaten or stolen. Result: the harvest promises to be catastrophic and Tigray could end up in famine after rain in July.
►Read also: Report – Tigray: a massacre committed by Eritrean soldiers in Goda
Since February, 184,000 children under five have been identified as malnourished. Since then, dozens of people have died of starvation. The cashier came to Adigrat’s hospital to have her child treated. “Some peasants in the village support the rebels,” the young woman explains. The Eritreans ordered them not to plant. We will therefore have a very low harvest. Almost no one is in the fields right now, she says and breastfeeds her baby. In the short term, more than one million people spread over 250,000 farms will have to receive seed lots (cereals, vegetables, fruit) and fertilizers. We are still far from the mark. For humanitarians, only an end to the conflict can improve the situation.
.
