UN releases $8.5 million for northern Ethiopia as access to Tigray improves but fighting continues

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher released $8.5 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund on 13 October for people in northern Ethiopia, the UN said in its noon briefing on 14 October. The money is meant for water, sanitation and hygiene, shelter, health and nutrition, for more than 200,000 people in the north.

The allocation comes after the UN Secretary-General said on 9 October that he was gravely concerned by renewed fighting in Ethiopia and called for a cessation of hostilities and a return to dialogue.

Access in Tigray

According to the UN account of the humanitarian situation, access has been improving, especially in Tigray, where flights resumed on 13 October and more roads have been judged safe for humanitarian movement. Recent deliveries to Afar, Amhara and Tigray included 80 trucks carrying more than 315 metric tons of food and over 45 metric tons of medical supplies for 19 health facilities in Tigray.

The UN also described the security situation in Afar, Amhara and Tigray as volatile, citing fighting, artillery shelling, looting and disruption to health services. It expects food insecurity to worsen across the north because of poor harvests, displacement and disrupted livelihoods.

The military and diplomatic background

Government forces retook Mekelle on 5 October, according to Geopolitiki’s earlier report. Since then Addis Ababa and Asmara have accused each other of war in letters to the UN. The UN briefing does not attribute responsibility for the shelling or looting it records, and this report draws no conclusion on who is responsible.

The briefing figures are the UN’s own and were not independently checked here. Neither the Ethiopian government nor the Tigrayan authorities were quoted in the UN material consulted.