91 Percent Of Ethiopian Tigray Residents Are At Risk Of Starvation And Death

ILLUSTRATION/Taylor Flowe/UNSPLASH

JAKARTA - Ethiopia's northern region has been hit by dire humanitarian conditions as its residents are at risk of hunger and death, the interim regional government president said.

Reported by ANTARA from Anadolu, Saturday, December 30, Getachew Reda, the war-torn regional leader of Tigray, said in a statement that the situation was a "disaster" comparable to the deadly hunger in 1984 that killed millions of people in Ethiopia.

The legacy of destructive war in Tigray and drought-induced hunger has created a deadly combination that puts 91 percent of Tigray residents at risk of starvation.

Reda said thousands of Tigray residents had died from food shortages since the signing of the Pretoria Agreement which ended the conflict between the Ethiopian Government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in November 2022.

"Although this upcoming disaster has received little attention, there is a lot of evidence that shows that the most vulnerable people - elderly children, as well as pregnant and lactating women - are experiencing hunger and death," according to the statement.

"It's true, at this time, the millions of Tigray residents are just waiting for their bad luck: death," the statement said further.

The destruction of Tigray's economic base, the destruction of health facilities, the looting of personal and public wealth, and the forced transfer of more than 1 million people have impoverished millions of Tigray residents, leaving them unable to take care of themselves, the statement added.

The lack of seasonal rainfall in the three zones of the region and the desert locust attack has brought disaster and created a humanitarian tragedy.

"Although aid has been recovered on a limited basis, the amount of aid that reaches the people in need is only a fraction of the amount needed to meet current needs," the statement said.

The statement emphasized that the temporary suspension of humanitarian aid also played a significant role in the worsening crisis.

Reda warned the lack of integrated efforts to address the tragedy would have deadly consequences and its broad impact on national and regional peace and stability.

Although there are signs of hope to be able to overcome the crisis in Tigray, the amount of funds raised so far is still too small to reduce disasters that may occur in Tigray.

Reda called on the federal government and the international community "to fulfill their legal and moral responsibilities by immediately intervening to overcome the dangers of hunger and threatening deaths. Starvation is a deadly killing.

He said the Ethiopian government and the international community had made their efforts to silence armed wars, and "now, they must carry out their role to tackle the imminent humanitarian catastrophe."

The statement was made when the death toll in the region increased due to starvation. At least 176 people, including 75 women, had died from starvation in Tigray earlier this month.

The interim government has declared a state of emergency due to the ongoing humanitarian crisis.