The Ethiopian government on Tuesday said it has signed a third-party implementation agreement with a United Nations (UN) agency for the rehabilitation of infrastructure projects in the Tigray region, which was destroyed in the conflict between the federal forces and forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), reported The Africa News.
The reconstruction is part of a project financed by the World Bank. In April, the World Bank gave a $300 million grant to help conflict-hit communities in Ethiopia.
In a statement, the Ethiopian finance ministry said the national recovery program aims to rebuild infrastructure, and improve access to basic services and make it easier for victims of gender-based violence to access assistance programmes.
It said that as part of the agreement, the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) would reconstruct basic service-providing infrastructure in Tigray, Ethiopia’s war-ravaged northernmost region which is largely under the control of the TPLF.
“UNOPS will implement the project in Tigray until situations in Tigray improve to enable the government to implement the project with its own structure,” the Ethiopian ministry said.
It added that the second objective of the project involving help for survivors of gender-based violence will be implemented by another third party, regarding which negotiations are still going on.
Many international organizations stopped providing aid to Ethiopia since November 2020 when the conflict between the federal government and rebels began in Tigray.
As per data published by the UNOCHA, the conflict in northern Ethiopia left more than 5.2 million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance in Tigray region alone.
Last week, the UN agency had disclosed that over 2.93 million Ethiopian children were forced to remain out of school due to the conflict as well as drought. As per the report, 20 million Ethiopians, including 13 million people in northern Ethiopia, have been found to be food insecure and in need of food assistance.
