Interim authorities in Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region are warning of a looming famine due to drought and the enduring effects of the devastating two-year war in the north of the country. In a statement Friday, Getachew Reda, leader of the interim regional authority in Tigray, said more than 91 percent of the population was "at risk of starvation and death" and called on the Ethiopian Federal Government and the international community to help.
Getachew Reda Kahsay is the Chief Administrator of the Tigray Interim Regional Administration (IRA) since his appointment on March 23, 2023, following a peace deal in November 2022 that ended the war between Tigrayan rebels and Ethiopian government forces.
In a social media post Sunday, Getachew called directly on Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to help avert a looming catastrophe.
“We also call upon the international community to fulfill its moral obligations by providing sufficient aid without delay,” Getachew said.
On Friday, the Tigray Interim Administration issued a strongly worded appeal to the Ethiopian federal government and the international community to intervene rapidly to address “Tigray's unfolding famine”, which had so far claimed countless lives.
“A dark cloud of starvation and death is hovering over Tigray. Tigray is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe the likes of which have not been seen since the infamous 1984-85 famine that claimed lives of millions of people across Ethiopia”, the appeal said.
According to the statement, the legacies of the destructive war in Tigray and drought-induced famine had created a deadly combination. The looming danger of large-scale starvation and death was not geographically isolated; over 91 percent of the population had been exposed to the risk of starvation and death.
Getachew emphasized the devastating consequences of the conflict, including the economic crisis, mass forced displacement, and the devastation of health facilities.
“But to make matters even worse, the shortage of seasonal rainfall in three zones, and untimely and damaging rainfall mixed with hail in two zones along with desert locust infestation have combined to create a nightmarish humanitarian tragedy,” the leader of the interim administration said.
Getachew said the temporary suspension of food aid by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) earlier this year also played a critical role in the crisis.
“Furthermore, the temporary suspension of humanitarian aid has also played a significant role in this deteriorating crisis. Although aid has since been restored on a limited basis, the amount of aid reaching the needy is a fraction of what is necessary to meet current requirements.”
WFP and the USAID halted food aid to Ethiopia in June 2023 after discovering that supplies were not reaching those in need, raising fears that millions of Ethiopians in need go hungry. The diversion of life-saving food assistance and its suspension in Ethiopia has threatened at-risk populations amid high levels of food insecurity following years of conflict and climatic shocks.
According to the UN, food distribution resumed across Ethiopia in December 2023. While the Ethiopian government has continued to provide food assistance, the resumption of the USAID-funded food distribution in mid-December after several months of a pause is critical to meet urgent needs.
For its part, the Tigray Interim Administration has undertaken a number of steps to address the humanitarian crisis. Getachew said the IRA had declared a disaster emergency in parts of Tigray under its control, but the unfolding emergency was “beyond the IRA's capacity to handle”.
"The Ethiopian government and the international community have done their part to silence the guns. Now they should do their part to tackle the looming humanitarian catastrophe," he said.
In a flash update, released late December, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that the drought situation was worsening in some parts of northern, southern, and southeastern Ethiopia and would deteriorate further unless aid is scaled up. OCHA said regional authorities in Amhara and Tigray had raised alarm and alerted aid agencies of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in both northern regions due to drought and food insecurity.
According to the UN office, humanitarian agencies are responding and are targeting some 5.6 million people. However, with the 2023 Ethiopia Humanitarian Response only 34 percent funded, urgent donor resources are required to scale up the response.
According to the latest Food Security Outlook from the US-sponsored Global Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), the food situation in Tigray is likely to deteriorate in the period from October 2023 to May 2024, while some populations, predominantly among the displaced, will experience severe food insecurity.
Ethiopia continues to face huge humanitarian challenges, with conflict, displacement, drought, floods, and disease outbreaks as the main drivers of need. These challenges are creating a complex and volatile situation affecting more than 20 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024.
A historic drought and war in northern Ethiopia — which both began in 2020 — in addition to disease outbreaks, and intercommunal conflict have contributed to elevated needs across the country. Although a peace agreement was signed in late 2022 and humanitarian access to Tigray and the neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara improved, needs remain high due to the two-year conflict.
A prolonged drought, the worst in the Horn of Africa region in modern history, has increased food and nutrition insecurity in Ethiopia. The Horn of Africa is finally emerging from three years of devastating drought, with above-average rainfall predicted for the October-December 2023 rainy season.
However, the drought situation is still worsening in some parts of the north, while many people in other parts of the country are grappling with the five consecutive seasons of severe droughts. In addition, an estimated 1.5 million people have been impacted by flooding in Ethiopia since late October 2023, particularly in southern, and southeastern Ethiopia. The most affected regions include Somali - accounting for 80 percent of those affected, South East, Gambela, Oromia, Afar and Sidama provinces.
As of June 2023, more than 4.38 million people were internally displaced in Ethiopia, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The main causes of displacement across the northeastern African country are conflict (2.9 million IDPs), drought (811,000 IDPs) and social tension (324,000 IDPs).
While Ethiopia's Somali region hosts the highest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) primarily displaced due to drought (543,000 people), Tigray region hosts the highest number of IDPs primarily displaced due to conflict (1 million people).
Further information
Full text: Statement on the unfolding famine in Tigray, Tigray Interim Regional Administration (IRA), published December 29, 2023
https://twitter.com/reda_getachew/status/1740689812116689038
Full text: Ethiopia: Humanitarian impact of drought Flash Update #1, 22 December 2023, published December 22, 2023
https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/ethiopia-humanitarian-impact-drought-flash-update-1-22-december-2023