(Security): WHO Chief Cries for Ethiopia’s Tigray Region aid blockade amid Ceasefire

The World Health Organization on Wednesday, November 9, 2022, called for a massive influx of food and medicines into Ethiopia's Tigray region following the ceasefire deal. According to the Head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, there is a desperate need for aid for the people in that region. This was as a result of two years of bloody conflict, with access to the region severely restricted.

The conflict between government forces and Tigrayan rebels has plunged Ethiopia's Northernmost region into a severe humanitarian crisis, with only a trickle of relief having got through. The WHO chief welcomed the breakthrough ceasefire agreement reached last Wednesday but warned it was already a week on and nothing is moving in terms of food aid or medicines.

At a press conference he said many people are dying from treatable diseases and many people are dying from starvation. Even in the middle of fighting, civilians need food, need medicine. He called on all stakeholders to give peace a chance and urge the immediate delivery of food and medicine to the people.

Tedros is himself from Tigray and was Ethiopia's health and foreign minister. He called for the reopening of basic services such as banking and telecoms and called for journalists to be allowed into the region.

The government in Addis Ababa and the Tigrayan rebels reached an agreement on November 2, 2022, after nine days of talks under the aegis of the African Union in Pretoria, South Africa. The two parties indicated in a joint statement that they will cease hostilities immediately, disarm the rebels, allow the resumption of aid deliveries and restore basic services.

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