
Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis: What’s stopping aid getting in?
Source: BBC
March 19, 2022
The United Nations has warned that the humanitarian situation in northern Ethiopia’s region of Tigray is deteriorating sharply as food stocks run out and supply routes remain severely restricted.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the situation in the region is “catastrophic” with the region effectively blockaded by Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Ethiopia accuses the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) of blocking aid.
More than 90% of the population in the region is in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN.
Aid delivery only possible by air
No aid trucks have successfully delivered aid to Tigray since mid-December. So aid agencies have been forced to transport supplies by air.
This is far more costly and delivers only minimal supplies.
“Planes carry less cargo at 25 times the cost of truck convoys” says Samantha Power, of the US international development agency (USAID).
“Trucking means more food for war-torn Tigray, but the Ethiopian government continues to block access for trucks.”
During the first week of March, only 100 metric tonnes of humanitarian supplied were transported via air to Mekelle, the regional capital of Tigray, according to the UN, far less than is needed.
About half a million children are estimated to be lacking food in Tigray, including more than 115,000 severely malnourished.

Families are exhausting all remaining means to access food, with three quarters of the population reported to be using extreme coping strategies to survive, the UN says.
“The level of food insecurity is expected to worsen in the coming months as remaining food stocks from the last harvest, which was half of normal year production, get depleted.”
What’s blocking overland routes into Tigray?
UN aid agencies estimate that 100 trucks carrying food, non-food items and fuel, are required to the deliver the required aid into Tigray every day.
But the main routes have been blocked for many months due to the ongoing conflict.
Continued fighting in the border region between Tigray and neighbouring Afar province to the east has made that route too dangerous.

Roads from the Amhara region to the south and Sudan to the west have also been closed as opposing militia contest for control of these areas.
There is no access either via Tigray’s northern border with Eritrea.
What does the government say?
Government spokesperson Legesse Tulu has rejected claims that Ethiopia is blocking aid, blaming the rebels of the TPLF instead.
According to the government, an aid convoy set off from Semera, the capital of Afar province on 17 March, bound for Mekelle, signalling this main overland route may be operational once again.
However, in January, a convoy travelling the same route was forced to turn back because of heavy fighting on the route.
The TPLF have denied government accusations that they are to blame for disrupting the aid.
“At no time before, during or after the fighting have aid trucks been prevented from passing through into Tigray by Tigray forces,” it said in a statement.
Fuel scarcity a challenge
In addition to other supplies, availability of fuel has been a key issue.
The government has been restricting movement of fuel into Tigray for many months, which has severely affected the distribution of aid within Tigray.
“With no fuel, even if we can get supplies in, getting them to where they need to go is very difficult, or impossible,” says WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The government says among the trucks that left for Mekelle on 17 March are three carrying fuel.

For many months, the Ethiopian government was also restricting movement of medical supplies.
The WHO was however allowed to airlift some supplies in February.
It estimates that 2,200 tonnes of emergency health supplies are needed to respond to urgent health needs in Tigray.
Only 117 tonnes have so far been delivered – less than 1% of what is needed.