War still rages on in the Nothern Ethiopian State, Tigray, despite the Ethiopian government announcing its victory. This is according to Saviano Abreu, spokesman for the United Nations’ humanitarian coordination office. He added that the security concerns had halted the crossing into the region by aid missions.
This comes after the Ethiopian government agreement that gave the United Nations (UN) “unrestricted” access to the Tigray region. However, the Wednesday agreement did not grant agencies such as Doctors Without Borders, Committee of the Red Cross, and Norwegian Refugees Council (NRC) access into the region.
Humanitarian Concerns
The regional director for NRC, Nigel Tricks, said that “those displaced by this conflict are living on borrowed time.” This shows the increasing concern by humanitarian agencies who dread the current situation’s worsening unless action is taken.
“There will be many displaced within Tigray on top of the hundreds of thousands already needing aid. And we know essential supplies are running out or have run out,” Tricks added.
U.N Refugee Agency is also concerned about the Eritrean refugees’ camps within Tigray. The camps are home to about 100,000 refugees from Eritrea. And as earlier reported, Tigray People’s Liberation Front is at war with neighboring Eritrea for aiding Ethiopia’s federal troops.
Babar Baloch, the agency’s spokesman, said the camps “remain incommunicado” and that “disturbing reports” of “damage and disruption” to the camps have been reaching him.
Crackdown on foreign media, local media, and observers also continues to stir up the humanitarian crisis. The Washington Post, in an article, said that Ethiopian political analysts reserve their comments for fear of reprisal.
Some Ethiopian journalists have also been arrested, and only one foreign journalist has been granted traveling permission to Tigray, under government supervision.
The Conflict is Worsening
With the capture of Mekele, Tigray’s capital, the war has since moved to the hillside of Tigray. This may work in favor of TPLF forces owing to the fact that they have mastery of their terrain. The TPLF leaders remain intact in a secret locatiTigray’s
The UN agency, on Friday, said that the number of refugees who have fled to neighboring Sudan has now surpassed 47,000 people. The situation at the camps in Sudan is also not getting any better.
Tigray’s death toll continues to rise daily. The Red Cross had earlier issued a statement that they were running out of body bags. Doctors in Mekele have also contradicted Prime Minister’s Abiy claims that no civilian was killed during the take-over and said that a total of 27 people had died.
On Friday, a Red Cross representative said that their Ethiopian partner organization’s network of 18 ambulances has been working throughout the crisis and have since transported hundreds of injured people to Amhara and Tigray medical facilities.
On Thursday, in a message aired on Tigray TV, a senior TPLF leader, Getachew Reda, said that tens of thousands of federal soldiers had been killed but failed to quantify how many TPLF forces soldiers have also suffered the same fate.
In his televised address, Reda foresaw a situation which will force TPLF to “turn all people into soldiers” to fight the “invaders.”
MORE:
- Ethio Telecom Announces Partial Restoration of Telecom in Tigray Region
- Tigray: Report as the UN is Given Unrestricted Access to the Region
