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Ethiopia's Tigray crisis: Why it's hard getting aid into the region Ethiopia conflict: Is aid flowing again into Tigray?
(8 months later)
Thousands of people have been displaced by fighting in the Afar, Amhara and Tigray regions The Ethiopian government says aid is flowing into Tigray, where millions of people are in urgent need of assistance.
The United Nations says there is a severe shortage of food and humanitarian supplies as a result of the conflict in Tigray, with more than 90% of the population there in urgent need of assistance. Earlier this month, the government and rebels in the Tigray region agreed to a ceasefire as a first step to ending the two-year conflict.
Following a humanitarian truce agreed between the Ethiopian government and opposition forces earlier this month, the first aid has begun arriving by road to the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle. But has any aid reached those in need in this area?
13 trucks have arrived safely into #Mekelle. More trucks & fuel will follow in morning. This is 1st humanitarian convoy to arrive into #Tigray region since last Dec.Good progress, much more needed - we need daily convoys flowing in safely to meet the needs of 5 million people. pic.twitter.com/A6UV7KuMpe What has the Ethiopian government said?
The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) welcomed the move as "a step in the right direction" but said there should be "a system in place to ensure unfettered humanitarian access for the needy". Redwan Hussein, national security adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, said on 11 November that aid was "flowing like [at] no other time".
Until the arrival of this first convoy on 1 April, the only aid deliveries since mid-December had been by air. He said this included 35 trucks of food and three carrying medicine to the town of Shire in Tigray province.
This is far more costly and delivers only minimal supplies. He added that deliveries were reaching not just areas held by Ethiopian forces, but also those areas not under their control.
"Planes carry less cargo at 25 times the cost of truck convoys" says Samantha Power, of the US International Development Agency (USAID). 70% of Tigray is under ENDF.Aid is flowing like no other times.Even to the areas not yet held by ENDF.35 trucks of food and 3trucks of medicine arrived shire. Flights are allowed. Services are being reconnected. The agreement just provides opportunities to enhance services.
During the first week of March, only 100 metric tonnes of humanitarian supplied were transported via air to Mekelle, the regional capital of Tigray, according to the UN, far less than is needed. He added that there was "no hindrance whatsoever" regarding the delivery of aid.
About half a million children are estimated to be lacking food in Tigray, including more than 115,000 severely malnourished. Mr Redwan later clarified to Reuters that the 35 trucks sent to Shire he referred to were from the Ethiopian government, and that international aid would start coming in "anytime."
Families are exhausting all remaining means to access food, with three quarters of the population reported to be using extreme coping strategies to survive, the UN says. Shire has recently fallen under the control of government forces.
"The level of food insecurity is expected to worsen in the coming months as remaining food stocks from the last harvest, which was half of normal year production, get depleted." We asked Mr Redwan to clarify whether any aid had gone to other areas, but have not yet had a response.
What's been blocking overland routes into Tigray? A government statement issued the day after Mr Redwan's post on Twitter, said that "efforts are being made to deliver assistance to most of Tigray which is under ENDF [Ethiopian National Defence Forces] command".
UN aid agencies estimate that 100 trucks carrying food, non-food items and fuel, are required to the deliver the required aid into Tigray every day. What has been the Tigrayan response?
Until now, the main routes have been blocked due to the ongoing conflict. The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) says the government's assertion that aid is coming in is not true.
Continued fighting in the border region between Tigray and neighbouring Afar province to the east has made that route too dangerous. Getachew Reda of the TPLF told the BBC that as of 13 November, no aid had reached the Tigray region.
Roads from the Amhara region to the south and Sudan to the west have also been closed as opposing militia contest for control of these areas. This was echoed in a tweet by another TPLF representative, Kindeya Gebrehiwot: "Our people need unhindered humanitarian aid in no time... we wish to see promises delivered!"
There is no access either via Tigray's northern border with Eritrea. I am wondering how percentage is calculated according to @RedwanHussien & such aid flow! Simply, both are incorrect. Our people need unhindered humanitarian aid in no time. It has been more than a week since the CoH has been signed. We wish to see promises delivered! pic.twitter.com/ngjwETzTat
What does the government say? At a press conference on 12 November in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, where the two sides had met to agree on how to implement the peace deal, Nigeria's former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is acting as a mediator, said aid should have been going in "yesterday".
The Ethiopian government rejects claims that Ethiopia is blocking aid, blaming the TPLF instead. The Ethiopian government and Tigray rebels signed a ceasefire deal in early November
It says that an aid convoy set off from Semera, the capital of Afar province on 17 March, bound for Mekelle, raising hopes that the main overland route would be operational once again. But the convoy never reached there. "There will be, with immediate effect, unhindered humanitarian access," he added, when questioned by the BBC.
The TPLF has denied government accusations that it is to blame for disrupting the aid. What have aid agencies said?
"At no time before, during or after the fighting have aid trucks been prevented from passing through into Tigray by Tigray forces," it has said. The International Committee of the Red Cross says a convoy of two trucks carrying medical aid arrived in Mekelle, Tigray's regional capital, on Tuesday and more aid is expected in the coming days.
Fuel scarcity a challenge Prior to that, the last movement of a humanitarian cargo delivered by the UN into Tigray took place on 22 August along the route from the neighbouring Afar region to Tigray's regional capital, Mekelle.
In addition to other supplies, availability of fuel has been a key issue. There was also an airlift of aid on 23 August from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to Mekelle.
The government has been restricting movement of fuel into Tigray for many months, which has severely affected the distribution of aid within Tigray. More than five million people were facing severe hunger in Tigray at that time, according to the World Food Programme.
"With no fuel, even if we can get supplies in, getting them to where they need to go is very difficult, or impossible," says WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. We contacted the UN, which operates in the Tigray region, to try to find out if - apart from the Red Cross medical aid - any other international aid had been sent recently.
"We, along [with] our humanitarian partners, continue discussions with the relevant sides to resume aid and personnel convoys' movement to Tigray," a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) told us.
"Humanitarian partners are ready to dispatch the items within 48-72 hours after receiving approval to go ahead."
This suggests that so far, there has been no approval for UN aid convoys or for humanitarian cargo flights to enter Tigray.
And the claim that the Ethiopian authorities had sent aid to the government-held town of Shire has been dismissed by a humanitarian worker in the area.
"No aid is allowed to enter Shire city at all," the aid worker is reported to have said.
When has aid reached Tigray?
The flow of aid into the Tigray region has been problematic since fighting broke out in November 2020.
There were periods when international aid agencies had access - between July and December 2021 and between April and August 2022.
But there have been months when there's been only limited or no access for humanitarian aid and staff into the region as the flow is affected by fighting along aid delivery routes, multiple roadblocks and checks and damage to infrastructure.
Humanitarian convoys are facing severe problems accessing the Tigray regionHumanitarian convoys are facing severe problems accessing the Tigray region
For many months, the Ethiopian government also restricted the movement of medical supplies. Delays in issuing approvals for aid convoys to travel by road through areas held by federal government and regional government forces has been a key issue.
The WHO was however allowed to airlift some supplies in February. The government also put in place strict controls for humanitarian aid flights - including a requirement for all flights to land first in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, for inspection.
It estimates that 2,200 tonnes of emergency health supplies are needed to respond to urgent health needs in Tigray.
Only 221 tonnes have so far been delivered - just about 4% of what is needed.
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