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Stresses that humanitarian workers “are waiting for the arrival of fuel” to be able to deliver humanitarian aid
Aug. 3 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United States authorities have demanded this Wednesday from Ethiopia “unrestricted access to fuel” in the Tigray region (north) to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to those affected by the conflict unleashed in November 2020.
The US Embassy in Addis Ababa has highlighted that the US special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Mike Hammer, and the ambassador to the country, Tracey Jacobson, have visited several warehouses with food in the Tigray capital, Mekelle.
“All this emergency aid is ready to be distributed by Catholic Relief to Ethiopians in need in the Tigray region, but humanitarian workers are waiting for the arrival of fuel to transport it,” he explained.
Thus, he stressed that “thanks to the collaboration of all those involved, the warehouses of the partners of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in the Tigray region are full of food and other vital aid.”
“Humanitarian workers need unrestricted access to fuel, cash and public services to transport it to those who need it and continue saving lives,” said the US Embassy through a series of messages published on its official Twitter account. .
The messages have been published in the framework of a visit to Mekelle by Hammer and the European Union’s envoy for the Horn of Africa region, Annette Weber, who on Tuesday encouraged the start of dialogue and “achieve lasting peace”. between the Government of Ethiopia and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF).
The conflict in Ethiopia erupted after an attack by the TPLF against the Army’s main base, located in Mekelle, after which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered an offensive against the group after months of political and administrative tensions. A “humanitarian truce” is currently in force, although both sides have accused each other of preventing the delivery of aid.
The TPLF has accused Abiy of stirring up tensions since he came to power in April 2018, when he became the first Oromo to take office. Until then, the TPLF had been the dominant force within the ethnically based coalition that had governed Ethiopia since 1991, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The group opposed Abiy’s reforms, seeing them as an attempt to undermine his influence.
