BENGALARU (Reuters) – The World Health Organization said on Friday it still doesn’t have the unfettered access to Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region stipulated in a truce signed a month ago.
The Ethiopian government and regional forces from Tigray agreed on Nov. 2 to stop hostilities, a dramatic diplomatic breakthrough two years right into a war that has killed 1000’s, displaced thousands and thousands and left a whole lot of 1000’s facing famine.
Troops from Eritrea, to the north, and forces from the neighbouring Ethiopian region of Amhara, to the south, fought alongside Ethiopia’s military in Tigray but weren’t party to the ceasefire.
“That peace process has not yet resulted within the sorts of full access, unfettered access and in the large scale of medical and health assistance that the people of Tigray need,” WHO’s emergencies director Mike Ryan said.
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He said there have been issues within the west of Tigray in areas under the control of militias, and other areas controlled by Eritrean troops.
“There are still significant parts of the country which can be occupied by Eritrean forces, for which there isn’t a access, and really disturbing reports emerging across the experiences of the people there,” Ryan said.
Ethiopia’s Minister of Health Lia Tadesse, State Minister Redwan Hussien, and government spokesperson Legesse Tulu didn’t reply to requests for comment. Eritrea’s government spokesman Yemane Ghebremeskel didn’t reply to a request for comment.
It was impossible for Reuters to hunt comment from the Amhara militia since it doesn’t have a proper leadership structure.
Ethiopia’s allies are looting towns, arresting and killing civilians and relocating 1000’s of individuals from a disputed a part of Tigray despite a truce between the federal government and native forces, witnesses and aid staff within the northern region say.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in October accused Ethiopia’s government of using the denial of food and healthcare as weapons of war in Tigray. The federal government has repeatedly denied blocking humanitarian supplies to the region.
(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija; writing by Hereward Holland; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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