Latin Press and Europa Press
The newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, July 28, 2024, p. 24
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia., Around two million people are at risk of starvation during the drought-affected off-season in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, which between 2020 and 2022 was the scene of a war between the army, allied militias and allied Eritrean forces against the armed wing of the regional authorities, which left between 100,000 and 600,000 dead.
Satellite images captured by British television BBC show that reservoirs and the farmland they help irrigate have dried up because there was no rain last year and now need to be replenished with seasonal rainfall if farmers are to have any hope of a successful season later.
If the rains do not arrive in the coming weeks, authorities fear a humanitarian catastrophe in an area still devastated by the conflict between the army and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
However, the Ethiopian government has assured the BBC that such concerns are exaggerated. The head of the National Commission for Disaster Management, Shiferaw Teklemariam, said: There is no imminent danger of famine or starvation in Tigray, or anywhere else in the country..
Teklemariam added that government officials are doing everything possible to address the challenges facing the country and that priority would continue to be given to the neediest beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates has sent 75 tons of food and other items to help those affected by the landslide in the Gofa area of southern Ethiopia, Communications Minister Selamawit Kassa said. Leaders from several nations have expressed their condolences for the landslide that occurred on Monday, which has so far left 257 people dead and 39 missing, she said.
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, as well as the leaders of Russia, South Africa, China, Japan and France, among others, sent messages of solidarity to their Ethiopian counterpart, Sahle Work-Zewde.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said agencies are sending food, nutrients, health and other supplies to help those affected by the landslide.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said search and rescue operations for missing people were continuing.
