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Tag: Starvation

“Dying by blood or by hunger”: The war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, explained

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

Residents and officialsThe bodies of the two brothers were left for more than a day. Their families knew they were there, but the soldiers wouldn’t let them collect the bodies. The soldiers left behind witnesses, though: two boys, barely teens, tied to a tree nearby, after the soldiers forced them to spend the night on the ground, between the bodies of the murdered men.

“According to information we got from people who are displaced, we estimate that up to 200 people might have There have been massacres and mass executions. Jan Nyssen, a geography professor at the University of Ghent, and a team of researchers have compiled a list of 1,900 Tigrayans killed in approximately 150 mass killings since the fighting began.

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Worries rise for Tigray residents’ longer-term safety

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

“People urgently need food and nutrition support. They are keen to resume their previous livelihoods activities, but they need support to acquire inputs, and most of all, they need stability and safety. Households in Eastern Tigray rely heavily on livestock, as well as on daily labor and petty trade. The continued instability and fear of displacement and looting means many are not yet ready to begin reinvesting in other livelihoods.”

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Recommendations for addressing drought displacement in Ethiopia

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

Drought-related displacement affects more and more people, but it is not the only type of displacement Ethiopia faces. More than a million new displacements associated with conflict and violence were also recorded in 2019.3
As aid must also be directed to people affected by inter-communal conflicts, humanitarian aid available to people displaced by drought has ended up being insufficient.

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UN: Tigray’s Humanitarian Crisis Worsens, No Eritrean Exit

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

The U.N. humanitarian chief is warning that the grave humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region is deteriorating, with no sign of Eritrean troops withdrawing and alarmingly widespread reports of systematic rape and other sexual violence mainly by men in uniform.

“Cases reported have involved Ethiopian National Defense Forces, Eritrean Defense Forces, Amhara Special Forces and other irregular armed groups or aligned militia,”

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Ethiopia – Tigray Conflict Fact Sheet #6 Fiscal Year (FY) 2021

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

4.5 MILLION People in Tigray Requiring Humanitarian Assistance UN – March 2021

4 MILLION Estimated Number of People in Urgent Need of Food Assistance Food Security Cluster – January 2021

62,383 Ethiopian Refugees Arriving in Eastern Sudan Since November UNHCR – April 2021

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World Peace Foundation: Starving Tigray

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

“Starving Tigray: How armed conflict and mass atrocities have destroyed an Ethiopian region’s economy and food systems and are threatening famine”

Regardless of who is responsible for the outbreak of hostilities, the sole reason for the scale of the humanitarian emergency is that the coalition of Ethiopian Federal forces, Amhara regional forces, and Eritrean troops are committing starvation crimes on large scale.

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Encyclopedia: Food As A Weapon Of War

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

Many countries have adopted a “scorched earth” policy (destroying anything that might be of use to an invading enemy) to prevent an invading army from living off the land. Both attackers and defenders in conventional wars and guerrilla struggles have used this strategy.

Since, as Napoleon is quoted as saying, “An army marches on its stomach,” procuring enough food to support an army in the field is a paramount concern for all commanders. Although weapons, clothing, and shelter are of the greatest immediate importance to soldiers, logistical support to provide food and material is often the decisive element in winning wars. Soldiers often had to truly “live off the land” even when in permanent garrisons or semipermanent encampments during lengthy sieges. 

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Aljazeera: Starvation crisis looms as aid groups seek urgent Tigray access

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

“People are dying of starvation. In Adwa, people are dying while they are sleeping. [It’s] also the same in other zones in the region,” 

“If the government is to be taken at its word that its campaign is aimed only at ousting the TPLF and not at harming the Tigrayan people, they should swiftly accede to the demands of humanitarian agencies for access to Tigray and even to areas TPLF forces may still control to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe of the sort that would make it harder to find a path out of this devastating conflict.”

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The Economist: After two months of war, Tigray faces starvation

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

Several other senior tplf figures have been killed by the army. Among them was Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopia’s longest-serving foreign minister. The killings and arrests appear to have left the tplf in disarray. Its leaders, including the ousted president of the Tigray region, Debretsion Gebremichael, have been in hiding for over a month. Although the tplf still controls sizeable swathes of rural Tigray, it holds no towns or cities. Allies of Abiy, who has already declared victory, believe it is only a matter of time before the rest of what he calls the “junta” are captured or killed.

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Martin Plaut: Situation Report EEPA HORN No. 63

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

“Ethiopia’s government appears to be wielding hunger as a weapon” as the Tigray region is ”being starved into submission”, citing reports of “horrifying accounts of ethnic killings, mass rapes—and starvation.”

“For more than two months there has been essentially no access to Tigray. (..) There are 450 tonnes of supplies we’ve been trying to get in that are stuck.”

 “I am greatly concerned by serious allegations of sexual violence in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, including a high number of alleged rapes in the capital, Mekelle”.

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