from ADANE BIKILA in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
ADDIS ABABA, (CAJ News) – MEANINGFUL humanitarian operations have still not begun twelve weeks since the start of conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.
Aid organisations are unable to reach some parts of the areas while two refugee camps are completely inaccessible.
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), in the few instances where agencies are accessing the region, it is limited to areas along major roads or the capital Mekelle.
Aid workers reportedly face an unpredictable approval process from authorizations, as well as unclear and shifting approval procedures.
“In all my years as an aid worker, I have rarely seen a humanitarian response so impeded and unable to deliver in response for so long, to so many with such pressing needs,” NRC Secretary General, Jan Egeland, said.
The official added, “As an international community, we are clearly failing to deliver against the humanitarian imperative we are facing.”
Egeland said it was untrue that aid was increasingly getting through.
Instead, aid has only gone to the places with little conflict and more limited needs and is not keeping pace with the humanitarian crisis.
“Millions of women, children and men, including refugees, are in a truly desperate situation, suffering alone without aid or protection,” Egeland said.
Tigray plunged into conflict in November last year after a fallout between the regional government and the national administration of Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed.
An unknown number of civilians have been killed and 2,5 million people displaced.
– CAJ News