The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warns that in Tigray “At least 160,000 children” are experiencing famine-like conditions, while rumors of a new escalation of the war in the wider region are erupting.
THE UNICEF “It is very concerned after the information that 200 people were killed, among them 100 children, in attacks against displaced families (…) in Afar” last Thursday, its director, Henrietta For, stressed.
In addition, these attacks “completely destroyed critical food supplies” in an area where “malnutrition and food insecurity had already reached crisis levels”.
The escalation of hostilities in Tigray, Afar and other areas adjacent to the former has devastating consequences for children, Ms For said.
“It follows the months-long armed conflict in Tigray that has killed some 400,000 people, including at least 160,000 children, in famine-prone conditions,” she said.
In all, 4 million people are experiencing crisis or food insecurity in Tigray, Afar and Amhara, according to UNICEF estimates.
According to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, more than 100,000 were displaced in recent hostilities and added to another 2 million people who had been uprooted.
Ominous predictions
UNICEF estimates that “within the next twelve months” there will be a “tenfold increase in malnourished and life-threatening children in Tigray”. The UN agency also stressed that the crisis is taking place amid “widespread, systematic destruction of health and other services that children and communities need to survive”.
Ms For warns that the conflict in northern Ethiopia is causing widespread humanitarian catastrophe and called on all parties involved to end hostilities and protect children.
Rebels announced last Thursday that they had captured Lalibela, in the Amhara province, a historic city declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has said it is taking “all necessary measures” to protect civilians and monuments in Lalibela, home to 11 13th-century monolithic Orthodox churches.
Ethiopia’s Federal Prime Minister Abi Ahmed, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, sent in November 2020, after months of tensions, the federal army to intervene in Tigray to capture and disarm his government. who accused them of attacking federal forces camps. The TPLF, which had ruled the province until then, was practically in conflict with the central government after losing power at the federal level three years earlier. This faction monopolized power in Ethiopia for 25 years.
He declared the “victory” of the federal forces at the end of that month; however, the fighting continued and lately they have taken an unfavorable turn for Addis Ababa.
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