What is going on in Tigray?
In November last year, a conflict between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray regional government ruling party, Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) broke out in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. This has resulted in a humanitarian crisis which is getting worse by the day due to the fact that the Ethiopian federal government has restricted access to the region.
Why has there been no access to Tigray?
We don’t know. The Ethiopian government is obliged under international law to allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of impartial humanitarian relief for civilians in need, but have refused to do that so far. Access to the region was completely blocked until early December when the UN announced a deal saying that the Ethiopian government had allowed humanitarian access. But this agreement has not been respected and instead, access has been extremely limited.
Eritrean refugees in Shimbela, Ethiopia. © UNHCR
How bad is the humanitarian situation in Tigray?
Very. More than 4.5 million people need emergency food. There has been no trade to the region since November and the harvest season has been impacted by the conflict as crops and equipment have been destroyed and farmers have fled from their land. The situation is particularly acute in rural areas where humanitarian access has been even more difficult due to the continued fighting and where banks and markets still are closed. The healthcare system in the region has almost collapsed, with up to 90% of the region’s health centres now defunct.
How is the situation for Eritrean refugees in Tigray?
Tigray borders Eritrea and is also home to four refugee camps hosting over 96,000 Eritrean refugees - many of whom are children. Two refugee camps, Hitsats and Shimelba, have not received any humanitarian assistance since the start of the conflict. A refugee who recently fled Hitsats told Amnesty International: “We were eating leaves from the field and drinking water from the nearby well."Many refugees have been forced to flee the camps. Some have fled to neighbouring towns, where they are begging for food and sleeping outside. Some fled to the capital Addis Ababa, far from the conflict, but were returned to Tigray against their will.
What can we do?
We need to pressure Abiy Ahmed to immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter the region before it's too late for the millions of people in Tigray.
Participate in Amnesty International’s email action putting pressure on Abiy tinyurl.com/AllowAccessToTigray
Join our Twitter storm on Feb 4, the three month anniversary of the conflict. We want to make as much noise and apply as much pressure as possible on this day! Toolkit with more information: tinyurl.com/TigrayTwitterStorm