Ethiopia Humanitarian Bulletin Issue #11 2 – 16 August 2021

General
August 16, 2021

HIGHLIGHTS

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, called on all parties of the conflict to stop fighting and ensure unfettered humanitarian access to all the people affected by the continuing conflict in Ethiopia.
“It was heart-breaking to see the scale of devastation and families who, to this day, do not have a place to live or food to put on their table.
The disruption of essential services, including access to communication, fuel and the banking system is compounding the dire situation,” said Mr.
Griffiths.
“We need to change the circumstances that have led to the slow movement of aid – we need the conflict to stop.”
“It is my highest priority that every Ethiopian in humanitarian need – be they in Tigray, in Amhara, in Afar, or indeed in every region of this country – receive assistance,” Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths.
The crisis in Tigray remains the focus of humanitarian response in Ethiopia with huge unmet needs, however, there are other emerging needs associated to the conflict and natural disaster as well as protracted emergencies in other areas of the country.
New displacements in Amhara require immediate assistance of at least 15,000 MT of ration food monthly, to address the current gap in assistance.
In Afar, nearly 77,000 people are reported to be displaced following the expansion of the conflict into Yalo, Awra, Gulina, and Ewa Woredas of Zone 4 (Fantana Rasu).
Amid reports of rising malnutrition, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Ethiopia (RC/HC), Dr.
Catherine Sozi, visited Somali Region [on 23 July] to firsthand witness the humanitarian situation.
“Despite the global attention in the northern part of Ethiopia, the IDPs in other regions will not be neglected. As humanitarians, we will work with the Government on how to get a durable solution for the IDPs,” said Sozi.
“We are now displaced and worse compared to the IDPs. They receive assistance, but we don’t.
Our farms are narrow now, and we are not farming to avoid any conflict that it may create.
Some sites were used to be farm plots are now IDP camp. Please find a solution for the IDPs and until that, please also consider us,” said a member of hosting community at Qoloji IDPs site.

USG/ERC called for unimpeded humanitarian access, reiterated to reach all in need of aid

During the conclusion of his six-day visit to Ethiopia [on 3 August], the Under-SecretaryGeneral for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, called on all parties of the conflict to stop fighting and ensure unfettered humanitarian access to all the people affected by the continuing conflict. The humanitarian chief held constructive meetings with the Federal Government, including the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, the Amhara Regional president, the African Union, and the humanitarian and diplomatic community where he had the opportunity to discuss the humanitarian situation in the country and the challenges aid organizations face in getting assistance to Ethiopians.

He also met with people in desperate need of aid in Tigray, and with humanitarian organizations working tirelessly to get assistance to them. “I met with people in Tigray who lost everything they had after they had to flee their villages or towns, leaving behind their houses and farms. In Hawzen, I visited a family whose house was burned, and crops were looted. It was heart-breaking to see the scale of devastation and families who, to this day, do not have a place to live or food to put on their table,” said Mr. Griffiths. “The disruption of essential services, including access to communication, fuel and the banking system is compounding the dire situation,” he added. More than 5.2 million people across Tigray—more than 90 per cent of the region’s population—require lifesaving assistance, including nearly 400,000 people already facing famine-like conditions. In the face of increasing conflict and increasing difficulty getting aid into northern Ethiopia, the Under-Secretary-General said that “we need to change the circumstances that have led to the slow movement of aid – we need the conflict to stop.”

Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs