Recurring nightmare: Ethiopia risks famine (The Economist)
Posted: 23 Jan 2021, 12:40
It has been almost two months since Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister, prematurely declared victory in the war between the federal government and its rivals in the northern region of Tigray, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front.
But the military gains have brought neither peace nor stability. A humanitarian crisis is brewing. The vast majority of the region’s roughly 6m people have been without adequate food, water or medicine since fighting began in November.
According to the interim regional administration, more than 2m civilians have been driven from their homes. Outside the regional capital, banks, markets and shops are shut, and hospitals are low on supplies.
Some food has arrived in areas which are firmly under federal control, but huge swathes of TPLF-held territory are in effect under blockade. Aid groups accuse the government of preventing them from reaching those most in need—and fear impending famine. That is something that Ethiopians, tragically, know all too well.
https://espresso.economist.com/9198a378 ... 171f960b0a
But the military gains have brought neither peace nor stability. A humanitarian crisis is brewing. The vast majority of the region’s roughly 6m people have been without adequate food, water or medicine since fighting began in November.
According to the interim regional administration, more than 2m civilians have been driven from their homes. Outside the regional capital, banks, markets and shops are shut, and hospitals are low on supplies.
Some food has arrived in areas which are firmly under federal control, but huge swathes of TPLF-held territory are in effect under blockade. Aid groups accuse the government of preventing them from reaching those most in need—and fear impending famine. That is something that Ethiopians, tragically, know all too well.
https://espresso.economist.com/9198a378 ... 171f960b0a