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Group Reports Health Facilities Looted in Ethiopia's Tigray

Associated Press

   KAMPALA, UGANDA - Health facilities in Ethiopia's embattled region of
   Tigray have been"looted, vandalized and destroyed in a deliberate and
   widespread attack on healthcare,"the humanitarian group Doctors Without
   Borders said Monday.

   Nearly 70% of 106 health facilities surveyed from mid-December to early
   March had been looted and more than 30% had been damaged. Only 13% were
   functioning normally, the group said, citing destroyed equipment and
   smashed doors.

   "The attacks on Tigray's health facilities are having a devastating
   impact on the population,"said Oliver Behn, Doctors Without Borders
   general director."Health facilities and health staff need to be
   protected during a conflict,in accordance withinternational
   humanitarian law. This is clearly not happening in Tigray."

   The findings deepen concern for the wellbeing of Tigray's6 million
   people. Ethiopia's federal government and regional officials in Tigray
   bothmaintainthat each other's governments are illegitimate after the
   pandemic disrupted elections. Fighting persists as government forces
   and their allies hunt down the region's fugitive leaders.

   Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed faces pressure to end the war as well as to
   institute an international investigation into alleged war crimes,
   ideally led by the United Nations. The government's critics say an
   ongoing federal probe simplyis notenough because the
   governmentcannoteffectively investigate itself.
   FILE - In this Monday, Nov. 30, 2020 file photo, Ethiopia's Prime
   Minister Abiy Ahmed responds to questions from members of parliament at
   the prime minister's office in the capital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

   U.S. Secretary of State AntonyBlinkensaid last week that some of the
   atrocities in Tigray amount to"ethniccleansing,"charges dismissed by
   Ethiopia as unfounded.

   Blinkenhas urged Abiy, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for his
   efforts to make peace with neighboring Eritrea, to end hostilities in
   Tigray. Eritrean troops as well as fighters from Amhara, an Ethiopian
   region bordering Tigray,"need to come out,"Blinkensaid on Wednesday,
   adding that the region needs"a force that will not abuse the human
   rights of the people of Tigray or commit acts of ethnic cleansing,
   which we've seen in western Tigray. Thathas tostop."

   According to Doctors Without Borders, health facilities in most areas
   of Tigray"appear to have been deliberately vandalized to render them
   nonfunctional."One-fifth of the health facilities were occupied by
   soldiers and few health facilities now have ambulances after most were
   seized by armed groups.

   In the past four months, the group said in a statement,"few pregnant
   women have receivedantenatalor postnatal care, and children have gone
   unvaccinated, raising the risk of future outbreaks of infectious
   diseases."

   The group's staff in rural areas have heard of women who died in
   childbirth because they were unable to reach a hospital amid insecurity
   on the roads and a nighttime curfew, it said.

   Accounts of atrocities by Ethiopian and allied forces against residents
   of Tigray have been detailed in reports by The Associated Press and by
   Amnesty International.

   Humanitarian officials have warned that a growing number of people
   might be starving to death in Tigray. The fighting erupted on the brink
   of harvest in the largely agricultural region and sent an untold number
   of people fleeing their homes. Witnesses have described widespread
   looting by Eritrean soldiers as well as the burning of crops.

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