Humanitarian Truce Will Succeed if Reciprocated by the Other Side, Says Gov’t

The humanitarian truce that the Government of Ethiopia has announced will bear fruit if reciprocated by the other side, Government Communication Service State Minister Selamawit Kassa said.

In her presser today, the state minister stressed that the indefinite truce could result in the desired outcome of improving the humanitarian situation on the ground only to the extent that it is reciprocated by the other side.

Currently thousands of people from Tigray region are trekking into neighboring regions in search of humanitarian assistance.

As alleviating the plight of those affected by the conflict is of utmost priority and responsibility, the government has now decided to exert maximum effort to facilitate free flow of emergency humanitarian aid into the region, she said.

The state minister called on the donor community to redouble their generous contributions to alleviate the situation and reiterated the government’s commitment to work in collaboration with relevant organizations to expedite the provision of humanitarian assistance to those in need.

‘‘…there are people who direly need emergency assistance. Countries that support the government’s truce should (therefore) increase assistance and redouble efforts to improve the situation on the ground. The call is not only to the international donor community but also to all Ethiopians to support people who direly need humanitarian assistance in Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions.’’

Furthermore, Selamawit called for increased humanitarian assistance for Somali and Oromia regions as they are facing drought in many places.

Source: Ethiopia News Agency