The United Nations (UN) on Monday said it has released emergency funds to help provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to people affected by Ethiopia’s conflict, reported UN News.
Martin Griffith, the UN aid chief, said on Monday that millions of people in northern Ethiopia are now “living on a knife-edge, as the humanitarian crisis is growing deeper and wider”.
“Women, boys, and girls continue to bear the brunt of the conflict, yet their protection needs remain underfunded”, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator warned.
After making a trip to Ethiopia, Mr. Griffiths said that the UN has released a fund of $40 million aimed at scaling up emergency operations in the Tigray region and the rest of Ethiopia’s conflict-hit regions.
He said that needs are rising across the country, and that the funds would help and support relief agencies providing protection and other life-saving assistance to people affected there as well.
Griffiths said $25m of the funding will come from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund, while the rest $15m will be allotted from the country-based Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund.
The situation in Ethiopia’s Tigray region has deteriorated since November 2020, when the federal government troops clashed with forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the move was in response to rebel attacks on Ethiopian army camps.
Prime Minister Abiy had promised a swift victory, but the TPLF had retaken most of Tigray by late June before expanding its presence in the neighboring regions. Amhara and Afar regions have also been swept up in the deadly violence and terrible rights abuses.
The TPLF is now demanding an end to the humanitarian blockade on Tigray, with no aid permitted to enter the region in the past month.
According to the UN humanitarian aid office (OCHA) 364 aid trucks have been waiting for authorization to access Tigray since 18 October.
