New York: In a major shift from Donald Trump’s policies concerning Ethiopia, where the Eritrean soldiers are engaged in a deadly fight on the side of Ethiopian forces to hunt fugitive leaders of the Tigray region for the last three months, the Joe Biden administration today stated that all soldiers from Eritrea should leave the region immediately. Ethiopian government though denies the presence of the Eritreans.
“Credible reports of looting, sexual violence, assaults in refugee camps, and other human rights abuses,” a United States State Department statement said.” While the Trump administration had praised Eritrea for its restraint, today’s statement is a marked departure from the earlier stand.
In the meanwhile, the United Nations has taken note of ground reports rising hunger and malnutrition in Tigray. On January 26, 2021, Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told media persons that while it was still not possible to determine the full impact of the crisis on food insecurity, months of conflict and the dire lack of access to food was worsening an already dire situation caused by the pandemic and locust infestation in the Tigray region.
Giving detailed account of the situation there, Dujarric said, many farmers there had missed the harvest season, and food was scarce in local markets due to regional trade being blocked. While certain services had been restored in some major towns, electricity, banking, communications and transportation services were yet to be restarted in most of the region. Access to cash and banking services was only available in the province’s capital, Mekelle.
“Our colleagues at the World Health Organisation (WHO) warn about increasing risks of the spread of disease,” Dujarric said and informed that nearly 80 per cent of the hospitals were still not functional and insufficient medical supplies were being delivered. Clean water was another concern, with hundreds of water pumps also not functioning properly.
“Our humanitarian colleagues stress that the overall situation is dire. Although supplies have increasingly been allowed to enter the region, most of the critical staff needed to scale up the response have still not been able to access the area,” he disclosed, and called for immediate, unimpeded and safe passage of humanitarian personnel and supplies to Tigray to reach all people who need assistance.
“I also wanted to flag that today, the Head of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), Audrey Azoulay, has called for an inquiry into the killing of journalist Dawit Kebede. He was found dead on January 19, in Mekelle, the capital of Tigray,” he said. Kebede [was] a journalist working for Tigray regional television at the time.
– global bihari bureau
