Story by The Reporter Addis Ababa

Authorities in Ethiopia estimate that over eight million people are now dependent on humanitarian aid because of the war in the country’s north.

A report was released when the humanitarian situation in North Ethiopia began to improve after a peace deal was reached between the federal government and the Tigray People Liberation Front administration in Tigray.

Almost one billion birr in cash has been transported to Tigray thus far, with 75 percent of the money going to Mekelle and the remainder to Shire.

In a press briefing held in December, Shiferaw Teklemariam, the head of the National Disaster Risk Management Commission, stated that “the government and development partners were able to achieve 100 percent of their target in delivering aid to over eight million people in need of urgent assistance.”

“A ministerial committee has also been formed for rebuilding efforts. While there is a ministerial committee formed for humanitarian operations, another committee, led by the Ministry of Finance, is expected to look for finance for the rebuilding work in the war-affected regions,” he said.

Tigray has 5.2 million of the eight million people who have become aid dependent as a result of the war. About 2.4 million people are from Amhara Region, while over 715,100 are in Afar Region.

The war in Northern Ethiopia caused significant damage to the economy, with at least USD 20 billion expected for rebuilding efforts based on an official estimate.

On December 20, 2022, USAID reported that one million crisis-affected people in Afar, Amhara, and Tigray had received food assistance from WFP since November 1, 2022. This is far from the report made by Shiferaw, who claimed five million people have been reached thus far.

“In the first round, which took six weeks, we delivered 169,000 metric cube of aid,” she said.

allAfrica.com