Donors committed US$610.1 million to humanitarian operations in Ethiopia at a high-level pledging event on Tuesday, but fell short of the target. One billion US dollars is needed to fund the immediate response and ensure a pipeline of aid for the next five months. But before the conference, the situation was much worse, as the country's UN-backed $3.24 billion Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for 2024 was less than 5 percent funded.
United Nations officials and aid agencies have urged the international community to immediately scale up its support to avert a worsening humanitarian emergency across Ethiopia. Some 21.4 million people in the country are in need of humanitarian assistance this year, including 12 million children.
With the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia critically underfunded, the conference brought together representatives of UN Member States, international organizations, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society to raise funds to meet the urgent needs of 15.5 million people targeted.
At the pledging conference in Geneva, co-hosted by Ethiopia, the United Kingdom and the United Nations, 20 pledges were made, with the three largest contributions coming from the United States ($243 million), the United Kingdom ($125 million) and the European Union ($47 million).
“We understand this is just the beginning, and we hope for continued and increased support throughout the year,” said Joyce Msuya, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator.
Ethiopia's emergency has been compounded by cycles of drought, flooding and conflict. Food insecurity and malnutrition are expected to peak at 10.8 million people during the July-September lean season.
Some 4.5 million people are internally displaced, and there are growing concerns about public health and protection.
“Conflict and climate hazards have taken a merciless toll: families uprooted, children malnourished and out of school, and now, with the lean season at the door, the grim specter of rising hunger,” Msuya said.
“We must help them turn the tide, invest in people’s lives, futures, and wellbeing, and bolster their inherent strength in the face of adversity.”
El Niño has exacerbated a drought in the northern highlands, and millions of people are coping with less water, drier pastures and smaller harvests. Malnutrition rates in parts of Afar, Amhara, Tigray and other regions are of great concern and continue to worsen.
At the same time, years of conflict in Tigray and other regions have destroyed or damaged thousands of schools, health facilities, water systems and other community infrastructure.
The UN and humanitarian partners plan to scale up life-saving assistance to 15.5 million people, more than two-thirds of whom are women, girls and people with disabilities, and food assistance to 10.4 million. Durable solutions must also be found for the 4.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs).
“Widespread hunger and disease are putting millions of lives in peril, particularly in Tigray, Amhara, Afar, Oromia, and other regions of Ethiopia torn apart by years of devastating conflict,” said Mike Ryan, Deputy Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), at the conference.
In conflict-affected regions, much of the health system and basic infrastructure has been degraded or destroyed. Further complicating the situation is a nationwide public health emergency with outbreaks of cholera, measles, dengue fever and malaria.
“The cholera outbreak is in its 20th month, with over 41,000 cases in 54 districts across 8 regions. It’s the largest cholera outbreak in Ethiopia’s history,” Ryan said
“Malaria cases are already at 1.1 million for this year, after a record year of over 4 million reported cases in 2023. Over 15,000 cases of measles have been reported from over 100 districts in 2024 alone.”
These outbreaks are occurring in areas where millions of people lack access to essential health services. Drought and flooding and the effects of climate change are making the situation even worse.
Ethiopia continues to face severe humanitarian challenges, with conflict, displacement, drought, floods and disease outbreaks as the main drivers of need. These challenges create a complex and volatile situation, with more than 20 million people in need of humanitarian assistance through 2024.
Across the country, some 15.8 million people are in need of food aid. It is estimated that more than 940,000 children under five will require treatment for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) this year, while 2.4 million children under five and 1.3 million malnourished pregnant and lactating mothers will require treatment for moderate acute malnutrition (MAM).
Most affected by hunger are vulnerable communities in northern Ethiopia that have yet to recover from the 2020-2022 war, particularly in areas of Tigray, Amhara and Afar, where the recent harvest was severely disrupted, leaving households with no or limited food stocks.
In the northern regions, an estimated 4 million people are affected by the devastating drought. Malnutrition rates in the hardest-hit drought areas have already surpassed globally recognized emergency levels.
Earlier this year, transitional authorities in Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region warned of imminent famine due to drought and the lingering effects of the country's devastating two-year war in the north.
El Niño has exacerbated the drought in the northern highlands. UN agencies report that malnutrition rates are worsening in conflict-ridden parts of Afar, Amhara and Tigray, forcing millions of people to cope with less water, drier pastures and smaller harvests.
Andrew Mitchell, Britain's deputy foreign secretary and minister for development, who recently visited Ethiopia, said he saw increasingly worrying signs of famine-like conditions in conflict areas in the north.
“What we found when we went up into Tigray and looked at the areas, where the marginalization and the difficulties were taking place. We found an increasing number of people, particularly children suffering from malnutrition, with the pipeline growing,” he said.
“Because of climate change and particularly because of the displacement of people, we saw that the coping mechanisms of people were being seriously eroded and people were selling whatever they had,” he added.
The World Food Programme (WFP) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) halted food aid to Ethiopia in June 2023 after finding that supplies were not reaching those in need.
But critics say the suspension of food aid for more than six months endangered vulnerable populations and worsened the situation for people in Tigray and other regions of the country amid high levels of food insecurity following years of conflict and climatic shocks.
Food distribution resumed across Ethiopia in December 2023, following rigorous reforms to prevent a similar situation from occurring.
“We worked closely with the Ethiopian government and our partners, including the UN, to reform the food aid system and protect against corruption,” Isobel Coleman, USAID deputy administrator, told the conference.
“Since December, we have reached more than 4 million people with food assistance across the country, prioritizing drought- and conflict-affected regions with the most acute need,” she said.
Meanwhile, clashes continue in Ethiopia's Amhara region between government forces and the regional Fano militia, which fought on the government side during the Tigray conflict. Fighting between the federal government and the armed group was sparked in April 2023, when the government asked the militia to join the country's police or military following the Tigray peace agreement.
Civilians in Amhara have yet to recover from two years of conflict in northern Ethiopia, which has affected their lives and livelihoods. Hostilities are likely to exacerbate the plight of civilians, especially given the limited humanitarian response, which has stalled due to insecurity.
Ongoing hostilities in western Oromia continue to displace thousands of civilians and impact humanitarian operations. Tensions and violence in the Oromia region have resulted in an alarming number of casualties and a deeply disturbing overall situation.
Further information
Full text: United Nations High-level Pledging Event on the Humanitarian Response in Ethiopia, Financial Announcements, Updated April 16, 2024
https://reliefweb.int/attachments/4c3167bb-4913-4cc6-ae0d-a69e2ebd476f/Ethiopia%20HLPE%202024%20Announcement%20results.pdf
Full text: Ethiopia High-level Pledging Event: Joint Communiqué by the Co-Hosts, dated April 16, 2024, published April 17, 2024
https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/ethiopia-high-level-pledging-event-joint-communique-co-hosts-16-april-2024