Ethiopian government declares Tigray truce to let aid in

Ethiopia's government has ordered an instant cease-fire with Tigrayan forces (TDF) to allow aid into the country's war-torn north.

 

A spokesperson for the Tigrayan forces did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday's declaration, which came after US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, David Satterfield, visited Addis Ababa this week.

 

According to the United Nations, more than 90 percent of the 5.5 million Tigrayans require food aid, but just a trickle has arrived since Ethiopian military left from Tigray at the end of June last year. Tigray's rulers, the Tigray People's Liberation Front, are positioned against the central government, led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in a 16-month struggle.

 

"The Ethiopian government expects that this cease-fire would significantly improve humanitarian conditions on the ground and pave the way for a peaceful conclusion of the conflict in northern Ethiopia," the ministry said in a statement.

 

Tigrayan leaders have criticized national and regional governments for preventing aid from reaching the country. According to the central government, Tigray defense force (TDF) has blocked supplies because TDF has invaded a neighboring territory along the sole land route into Tigray that is now open.

In parts of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, people now eat only green leaves for days. At a health center last week, a mother and her newborn weighing just 1.7 pounds died from hunger. In every district of the more than 20 where one aid group works, residents have starved to death.

 

For months, the United Nations has warned of famine in this embattled corner of northern Ethiopia, calling it the world’s worst hunger crisis in a decade. Now internal documents and witness accounts reveal the first starvation deaths since Ethiopia’s government in June imposed what the U.N. calls “a de facto humanitarian aid blockade.”

 

Forced starvation is the latest chapter in a conflict where ethnic Tigrayans have been massacred, gang-raped and expelled. Months after crops were burned and communities stripped bare, a new kind of death has set in.

On August 03, 2021, aid workers have complained that aid access in Tigray is as bad as ever, hobbled by insecurity and bureaucratic hurdles.

A senior UN official on Tuesday condemned as "dangerous" accusations by Ethiopian government officials that aid workers were biased in favour of -- and even arming -- "rebel forces" in war-hit Tigray.

"Blanket accusations of humanitarian aid workers need to stop," UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said at a press conference at the end of a six-day visit to Ethiopia, his first mission in his new role.