Oct. 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, urged the international community on Wednesday to pay attention to the crisis in Ethiopia, since he considers that “there is a very narrow window to prevent genocide in Tigray”.
“There is no other situation in the world where 6 million people have been kept under siege for almost two years,” Tedros told reporters in Geneva.
At the same time, he has denounced that “banking, fuel, food, electricity and health care are being used as weapons of war.”
“There are no services for tuberculosis, HIV, diabetes, hypertension and more. These diseases, which can be treated elsewhere, are now a death sentence in Tigray,” Tedros warned.
In this sense, the director general of the WHO has requested “the attention it deserves” to the conflict in Tigray. “Yes, I am from Tigray, and yes, this affects me personally,” he acknowledged at a press conference in which he clarified that his “job is to draw the world’s attention to the crisis that threatens the health of people wherever they are. be.”
“This is a health crisis for six million people, and the world is not paying enough attention,” he criticized.
For his part, the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has requested that “all parties allow and facilitate the rapid and unhindered passage of humanitarian aid for civilians.”
“The level of need in Ethiopia is staggering,” he lamented, estimating more than ten million people in need in the country, “even before hostilities resumed in August.”
This week the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, also warned of the intensification of the conflict in the Ethiopian region of Tigray, after the Government has announced a new offensive to regain control of airports and other federal facilities. .
“The situation on the ground has never been so bad, both from a military and humanitarian point of view,” warned the head of community diplomacy at a press conference after the Foreign Affairs Council held in Luxembourg.
The region is experiencing a new upsurge in the conflict that is now two years old, a worsening of the situation that Addis Ababa attributes to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF).
The constant exchange of attacks has ruined the prospects of a ceasefire and peace negotiations. The central administration has accused the TPLF of violating the agreements signed to try to calm tensions on three occasions, the last time in August of this year.
