United Nations: Food has run out for nearly 100,000 refugees in Ethiopia

The United Nations has reportedly run out of food for nearly 100,000 Eritrea refugees. Eritrea is a northeast African country on the Red Seas coast. Eritrea shares a border with Ethiopia in the south, Sudan in the west, and Djibouti in the southeast. The refugees have “been sheltering in camps within Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, which has been cut off from the world for nearly a month amid fighting and tensions. Communication and transportation services to Ethiopia’s Tigray region have been severed, an action impacting over six million people. The United Nations have been warning of the famine danger since one month ago when the warring in the region began. The region has unconfirmed reports of attacks and abductions.

CNN reports that the conflict in Tigray, between the Tigray Peoples Liberation Forces (TPLF) and the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, began in early November due differences surrounding elections held during the pandemic. Prime Minister Abiy has accused Tigray’s leaders of undermining his democratic reforms and has vowed a military confrontation with Tigray. The United Nations reports that over two million people in Tigray are in need of assistance, this number has doubled since the fighting has begun. International leaders have repeatedly expressed grave concern for the disruption of humanitarian access and for violence against civilians during fighting.

Ethiopia has offered aid, but the United Nations states that aid should be “neutral, unhindered and immediate”. In addition to the Eritrea refugees, 45,000 Ethiopian refugees have fled west to Sudan. At least 1,000 people have been confirmed killed, though this number is expected to be even higher. The International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations are struggling to aid all those in need and are referring to the war as an international humanitarian disaster. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said “there is a risk this situation will spiral totally out of control, leading to heavy casualties and destruction, as well as mass displacement within Ethiopia itself and across borders”. Both senior officials from the Trump administration and President-elect Joe Biden’s national security team have insisted that fighting cease and are warning of potential war crimes for violence against civilians.

Discussion/Questions:

1. Discuss the potential impacts of the fighting in Tigray on the quality of life for the people of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, and surrounding areas.  
2. Discuss the potential impacts of the fighting in Tigray on the international global economy. 

Article URL: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/food-run-100000-refugees-ethiopia-74478184. Supporting URL: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/08/africa/ethiopia-tigray-refugees-sudan-border-intl/index.html. Photo: Photo by Julie Ricard on Unsplash.