Ethiopian crisis: Catastrophe ‘unfolding before our eyes’ in Tigray – UN chief
New York, US (PANA) - A military confrontation that started 10 months ago in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region is spreading, with serious political, economic and humanitarian implications for the country and the broader region, the Secretary-General warned the Security Council on Thursday.
“A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding before our eyes,” António Guterres warned. “The unity of Ethiopia and the stability of the region are at stake,” he added calling for an immediate ceasefire and the launch of national political dialogue.
Outlining the severity of the situation, the UN chief said the military front lines in Tigray have reached the regions of neighbouring Amhara and Afar.
A UN statement said the Government’s 28 June declaration of a unilateral ceasefire, and withdrawal of the National Defence Forces from Mekelle have not led to a comprehensive ceasefire.
Tigray remains under a de-facto humanitarian blockade and cut off from electricity and communications, the UN chief informed the Ambassadors.
Mr. Guterres said that actors in Ethiopia have entered the fight through mass mobilization and the activation of regional and armed groups.
“Inflammatory rhetoric and ethnic profiling are tearing apart the social fabric of the country,” he emphasised.
Moreover, the human price of the war is “mounting by the day”, as more than two million people have been displaced and millions more are in immediate need of food, water, shelter and health care, said the Secretary-General.
At least 400,000 people are living in famine-like conditions, with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warning that 100,000 face severe acute malnutrition within the year.
Amid reports of sexual and gender-based violence, refugee camps have been destroyed and hospitals looted, the statement said.
“I condemn these atrocious acts in the strongest possible terms,” underscored the Secretary-General. “There must be accountability.”
While the Organization and its partners have mobilided to reach five million people with food, Mr. Guterres said that the response is “severely” constrained by insecurity, delays and a host of arbitrary restrictions on the work of humanitarian agencies.
Overland access into Tigray now depends on a single route, through Afar, which involves passing through numerous checkpoints, the UN said.
At the same time, although agencies require roughly 100 trucks worth of assistance to reach Mekelle every day, no trucks have arrived for over a week.
“Warehouses are now empty,” the UN chief lamented.
Beyond Tigray, the conflict in Afar and Amhara has displaced reportedly 300,000 more people, he said, events that have unfolded alongside efforts to maintain broader support across Ethiopia in response to intercommunal violence, flooding and locust infestation.
Mr. Guterres said the fighting has drained US$1 billion dollars from Ethiopia’s coffers, while noting that debt is mounting.
Credit access is drying up, inflation is on the rise and the country is suffering from the fifth-highest incidence of COVID-19 cases on the continent.
-0- PANA MA 27Aug2021
