Africa ( commonwealth union ) _ In the northern Tigray area of Ethiopia, a small, malnourished child is curled up on a hospital bed, struggling to breathe while her mother sobs nearby and her father gently rubs her lanky face.
Tsige Shishay, 10, who wears a pink sweater with the word “beautiful” on the front, is just 10 kg (22 lb) in weight. She is a new victim of a severe food shortage in a region plagued by two years of war and suffering from drought, according to her doctor, and she is reportedly dying.
After a ceasefire in November, two years of warfare between local forces and Ethiopia’s federal army and its allies came to an end, which resulted in the displacement of residents, the destruction of harvests, and the disruption of food aid.
The issues have gotten worse due to a continuous drought. In a country where 20 million people out of a total 120 million population rely on food aid, over a quarter of Tigray’s 6 million residents were extremely food insecure in February, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
After the ceasefire in November, aid to Tigray resumed, but earlier this year it had been temporarily stopped. Both the WFP and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), two significant donors, claimed they had stopped contributions because aid was being misdirected away from those in need.
The Ethiopian government slammed the halt but stated that it was looking into the reports of a diversion. The WFP and USAID stated that they were attempting to begin relief flows as quickly as possible and were trying to ensure that it reached the intended recipients. In July, the WFP indicated hat it hoped to resume.
According to Gebrehiwot Gebregziaher, a doctor in charge of the Tigray region for the National Disaster Risk Management Commision, reports of people dying directly or indirectly from hunger began to come in from various districts and wards in the north-west, east, and south-west zones of Tigray in April and May. 595 individuals have perished, he claimed.
Getachew Reda, the president of the Tigray interim government, did not answer but claimed on Twitter on July 5 that he held discussions with WFP representatives regarding measures to resume relief flows.
The local social affairs office reported that 51,000 people were living in Abiy Addi, a town 54 kilometres (34 miles) west of Mekelle, as a result of violence. 118 people there, according to Gebremiskel Gidey, an office administrator who works at the improvised camp inside a nearby school, are in critical condition from malnutrition.
Woldesilassie Gebremedhin, a displaced farmer at the school, pointed to one of his three children and said, “My boy is hungry right now and he is asking me to feed him, but I have nothing left.” He added that his wife had already passed away from hunger.
