UNFPA Ethiopia Humanitarian Response Situation Report – August 2022
SITUATION OVERVIEW
According to the latest Humanitarian Response Plan, more than 20 million people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance in the country – including nearly 5.5 internally displaced people and 18 million non-displaced affected people – as a result of internal conflict, displacement and recurrent natural hazards. Consecutive years of drought and a fifth consecutive below-average rainfall continue to disrupt the fragile livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of pastoralist and agro-pastoralist families across Somali, Oromia, SNNP and South-West regions. Similarly, flooding and landslides incidents have caused the displacement of 292,863 people in Afar, Oromia, Gambella, Somali and Amhara regions, according to the National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC).
After five months of a ‘humanitarian truce’, renewed fighting between the Federal Government and Tigrayan forces erupted around Kobo town in Amhara, parts of southern Tigray, and border areas of Fanti (Zone 4), in Afar region.
Humanitarian convoys have been suspended as well as the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS), affecting the movement of supplies, staff and operational cash. Due to insecurity and access constraints, updated displacement figures and humanitarian needs are unknown at the closure of this report. In Afar and Amhara regions, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate due to the combined effects of climate shocks, conflict and displacement, coupled with limited presence and capacity of partners to provide adequate assistance to IDPs and returnees[1]. In western Ethiopia, active hostilities in Benishangul Gumuz, Oromia and SNNP regions have caused new displacements, damage to infrastructure and basic services, increasing protection risks and insecurity-related access constraints to the people in need.
The humanitarian situation continues to worsen in drought-affected areas with more than 8 million people affected scattered across 23 zones and 84 woredas in the southern and south-eastern parts of the country. The number of IDPs has been increasing as the drought is intensified in the regions with 162,610 people in Oromia, 413,004 in Somali and 6,338 in Afar region were displaced due to the drought (IOM DTM April 2022). In some parts of the drought-affected areas, access to people in need by humanitarian organizations has become increasingly difficult due to renewed security concerns and violence.
Source: United Nations Population Fund