Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Ethiopia Says Tigray Back to 'Normalcy,' but Witnesses See Disaster

Associated Press

   NAIROBI - Ethiopia's government has privately told Biden administration
   staffers its embattled Tigray region has "returned to normalcy," but
   new witness accounts describe terrified Tigray residents hiding in
   bullet-marked homes and a vast rural area where effects of the fighting
   and food shortages are yet unknown.

   The conflict that began in November between Ethiopian forces and those
   of the Tigray region that dominated the government for nearly three
   decades continues largely in shadow. Some communications links are
   severed, residents are scared to give details by phone and almost all
   journalists are blocked. Thousands of people are believed to have died.

   Ethiopia's deputy prime minister, Demeke Mekonnen, and colleagues
   briefed a private gathering Friday hosted by the Atlantic Council think
   tank. They said nearly 1.5 million people in Tigray have been reached
   with humanitarian aid, and they expressed unease at "false and
   politically motivated allegations" of mistreatment of refugees from
   neighboring Eritrea, the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate
   reported. It said Biden administration staffers attended the meeting.

   The refugees have been targeted by soldiers from Eritrea, who are
   fighting alongside Ethiopian troops against the Tigray forces. The
   Biden administration has pressed Eritrea to immediately withdraw them,
   citing credible accounts of looting, sexual assault and other abuses.

   Despite Ethiopia's latest assertions, its recently appointed
   administrators in Tigray have estimated that more than 4.5 million
   people, or close to the region's entire population, need emergency food
   aid and some people have begun dying of starvation. That's according to
   leaked documents from a crisis meeting of government and aid workers in
   early January.

   A new account by a Doctors Without Borders emergency coordinator in
   Tigray, Albert Vinas, says "we are very concerned about what may be
   happening in rural areas," with many places inaccessible because of
   fighting or difficulties in obtaining permission.

.