4 hours ago
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Ghebreyesus, has revealed that he is unable to send money to his “starving” relatives in Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region.
“I have many of my relatives there, and I want to send them money, and I can’t. I don’t know who is still alive and who has died,” said Ghebreyesus.
Since the war began in 2020, this region has been cut off from the outside world, with no phone or internet services working there.
The Ethiopian government was accused of placing obstacles in the way of aid destined for the region, impeding the delivery of necessary needs, which Addis Ababa attributed to the fighting in the region.
Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed while millions are in urgent need of food.
The World Food Program says nearly half of Tigray’s 5.5 million people are in “urgent” need of food.
This is not the first time that Ghebreyesus – a former health minister in Ethiopia – has spoken about the war in his country.
On Wednesday, he said the situation in Tigray was worse than the situation in Ukraine, and pointed out that racism was behind the difference in the global response to the crisis.
“I can tell you that the humanitarian crisis in Tigray is more severe than the Ukrainian one, without any exaggerations. I said this several months ago, perhaps the reason is the color of the people’s skin,” Ghebreyesus said.
In 2020, Ghebreyesus denied accusations by an Ethiopian general that he helped procure arms for the Tigray rebels. He added: “There have been reports of bias towards one side. This is not true.”
Fighting resumed this week after months of calm following the humanitarian truce agreed in March between Tigray and Ethiopian government forces.
photo released, AFP
The government of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is accused of obstructing humanitarian aid destined for the region, but it denies this
Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, told the BBC that heavy fighting was still going on and the Tigray people were suffering.
The two sides – the Ethiopian army and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front – exchanged accusations about the cause of the outbreak of the war.
Getachew also said, “We have people starving because of the siege imposed on us by the authorities in Addis Ababa and their accomplices in crime.”
“It would be very risky to start a war when in fact our people are in need of humanitarian aid,” he added.
The government did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment.
Residents of the city of Kobo, about 25 km from the fighting areas, told the BBC what they saw amid a new outbreak of fighting.
One of the women said, “We hear the sounds of heavy weapons. We can still hear them. The war has already increased, and there are new army forces entering the area.”
While another person said: “The community is tense and some are leaving the area. But most of them are with the Federal Defense Force and the Amhara Special Force to face what is coming.”
The Tigray War broke out in the far north of Ethiopia in November of 2020, and later spread south to the Amhara and Afar regions.
US officials have said thousands have been killed, more than two million people have fled their homes, and some 700,000 people have been left living in “famine-like conditions”.