Mike Ryan, from the World Health Organization.
Photo: Taken from WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned this Friday that Ethiopia is suffering “one of the most serious humanitarian crises in its recent history, with millions of lives at risk” due to hunger that has left several conflicts and a severe drought, and disease outbreaks.
“As the situation continues to deteriorate, urgent measures are needed to prevent further suffering and loss of life,” the WHO said in a statement.
According to the deputy director general of this UN institution, Mike Ryan, the situation is “critical” in regions such as Tigray, Amhara and Afar (northern Ethiopia), which endured a war that lasted two years, from 2020 to 2022, when The Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) signed peace.
There, “widespread hunger, disease outbreaks and infrastructure degradation due to conflict have left millions of people without access to essential services,” the WHO document reads.
Additionally, the country is facing the largest cholera outbreak in its history, a significant increase in malaria cases and numerous measles infections, often in areas with limited access to medical care.
Although a peace agreement put an end to the war between Addis Ababa and the TPLF, more than 50,000 people have been forced to leave their homes so far this month in Tigray due to an escalation of tension in areas disputed with the authorities. from the neighboring Amhara region.
Likewise, in Amhara the Fano militia has been fighting since the middle of last year, when the federal Executive decided to dissolve the paramilitary forces of the country’s regions and integrate them into the Army or the Police, and Addis Ababa declared a state of national emergency.
Meanwhile, the Oromia region is the battlefield of the rebel group Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which seeks self-determination for the Oromo people.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that in Ethiopia there are 21.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, and around 22.8 million people, 22.25% of the population, have difficulty eating what they need.
