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USAID Head Pushes for Humanitarian Aid Access in Tigray

VOA News

   U.S. Agency for International Development head Samantha Power is set to
   meet Wednesday with officials in Ethiopia as the United States urges
   the government to allow clear access for humanitarian aid to the Tigray
   region.

   Poweron Tuesday met with refugeesin Sudanwhohavefled Tigray, and she
   reiterated the position of the United States,theUnitedNationsand
   othersthatultimately whatwill help the peoplein the
   northernmostregionofEthiopia is an end to thewarthat hasbeen ongoing
   formore thannine months.

   "The U.S.has been pushing all parties in Tigray toward an immediate
   cease-fire in the hopes that people like the Ethiopians I met here will
   be able to return home," Powersaid in aTwitter postTuesday."The
   conflict has brought harrowing attacks against civilians, it is
   impacting millions, and it has to end."

   She said specifically the United States is calling for theTigray
   People's Liberation Front, ortheTPLF, to withdraw from the neighboring
   Amhara and Afar regions, for the Amhara regional government to pull
   itsforcesfrom western Tigray, and forneighboringEritrea
   toimmediatelywithdraw its forces from Ethiopia.

   "All parties should accelerateunhindereddelivery of humanitarian
   assistance to those affected by the conflict, and the commercial
   blockade of Tigray must end," State DepartmentspokesmanNed Price told
   reporters Tuesday in Washington.

   The United States announced last week $149 million
   inadditionalhumanitarianassistancefor the Tigray region, while also
   calling attention to bureaucratic delays and attacks on aid convoys
   that have hindered efforts to get food and other necessary supplies to
   those in need.
   U.N. official Martin Griffiths asks for more aid access to Ethiopia's
   war-ravaged Tigray, Aug. 3, 2021.

   U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told reporters Tuesday in
   Addis Ababa that in recent days,122 trucks had arrived in preparation
   for taking supplies into Tigray, but that humanitarian organizations
   said the need in the region is more like 100 trucks of aid per day.

   "We need to change circumstances that have seen trucks moving in rather
   slowly. We need assured access routes by land,as well as,of course,our
   own flights going in and out of Mekele, and frankly we need the war to
   end, we need the conflict to stop if this is to be a safe place for the
   people of those particular regions innorthern Ethiopia," Griffiths
   said.

   All warring parties have been trading blame on several issues including
   blockade of access to humanitarian aid.The Ethiopian government has
   blamedTigrayanforces for aid blockades, whileTigrayanforcesblame the
   government.The Associated Press reported last week a senior USAID
   official told the news agency that the government's allegation is "100%
   not the case."

   The official added that the "[1]primary obstacle is the government."

   Ethiopia suspended part orall oftheoperationsTuesdayofDoctors Without
   Borders and the Norwegian Refugee Council. The [2]aid groups saidthe
   government ordered them to halt their work in Tigray.

   The Associated Press and Reutersprovided someinformation for this
   report.

References

   1. https://apnews.com/article/africa-united-nations-ethiopia-blockades-c70f207418d1f291689b58aaa037a22e
   2. https://apnews.com/article/africa-united-nations-ethiopia-74bffd76acdc552e978c37e1cb35faf0

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