NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – Many hospitals in the Tigray region, hit by the conflict in Ethiopia, outside their capital, were hit by artillery during two months of fighting, according to the first humanitarian assessment of the devastation, when aid begins. desperately getting needed supplies.
The scale of the damage is largely unknown, as Ethiopian forces pursue and clash with those of Tigray’s now fugitive regional leaders. Transport and communication links have been cut. People who fled the region told the Associated Press and others about looting and burning of houses.
Tigray leaders dominated the government of Ethiopia for almost three decades before Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took power and set them aside amid deep reforms that won him the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. Abiy rejected “interference ”In the recent conflict.
The full humanitarian assessment, seen by the PA, was prepared by a joint mission from the Ethiopian government, United Nations agencies and aid groups that visited the capital of Tigray, Mekele, and communities in southern Tigray in late December, after weeks of UN supplications and others for access.
Food, medical supplies and other staples were alarmingly low across the region. The assessment cites regional officials saying that more than 4.5 million people, more than two-thirds of the population, now need humanitarian aid.
“The living conditions of recent displaced people and host communities remain very critical,” says the assessment, with food, shelter and health care cited as immediate needs.
The assessment does not say who shot at hospitals or caused any damage; the UN humanitarian agency said it had no confirmation of such details.
“The little stock of food that the affected communities had been looted, burned or damaged,” says the assessment, adding that an outbreak of locusts has made the situation worse.
He adds: “As a result of the conflict, many homes, stores and private stores have been burned or damaged.” Schools, health centers, shops and other buildings were looted.
An even darker picture expected from an assessment based on a visit to western Tigray, where some of the fighting broke out in early November. More than 50,000 people have fled the region to neighboring Sudan, some telling the AP about mass kidnappings, torture and murders along ethnic lines.