In November 2020, Ethiopia Government troops entered Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray Region, responding to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) attacks on federal army camps, as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared, and to topple TPLF from its northern stronghold.
The Addis Ababa military offensive erupted soon into a civil war that spread across the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar, forcing 2 million people to flee their homes.
The internal conflict “has created a humanitarian crisis” in Ethiopia, said Shabia Mantoo, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokeswoman, leaving hundreds of thousands of people in need with a critical level of food insecurity and without access to essential services like health, education, safe water, and proper shelters. Furthermore, civilians and Eritrean refugees have been displaced “amid widespread reports of gender-based violence and human rights abuses”, she said.
Moreover, it has been reported the destruction of several refugees’ camps in northern Tigray, the home of tens of thousands Eritrean refugees. “Several camps and settlements hosting Eritrean refugees have been attacked or destroyed, further displacing tens of thousands within Ethiopia”, declared Shabia Mantoo.
The 16-month conflict that ranged through northern Ethiopia, according to the UN, displaced at least 60,000 Ethiopians across the border into Sudan, while more than 1.6 million people have been displaced internally. The UN asked for $205 million to provide protection and life-saving assistance to those displaced, and the UNHCR has welcomed the prompt Ethiopian government’s identification for new sites to settle displaced people, allowing 20,000 displaced children back to school.
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https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220304-un-plan-to-help-1-6-million-displaced-by-ethiopia-war
Author: Francesca Geuna; Editor: Vito Quaglia