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Wounded soldiers arrive in Mekele, the capital of Tigray
Photo: YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been trying in vain for more than six months to gain access to the conflict region of Tigray in northern Ethiopia.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who himself comes from Tigray, describes the situation as catastrophic.
"Nowhere in the world are we witnessing a hell as in Tigray," he said on Wednesday in Geneva.
"The situation is desperate."
Even in the worst times of conflict in Syria or Yemen, the WHO had access to at least provide life-saving material.
In Ethiopia, the WHO tried at all levels to persuade the government of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to allow medicine to be delivered to the region, but to no avail.
"It is terrible and inconceivable that a government would deny its own people food, medicine and everything else to survive for more than a year," Tedros said.
"This has to stop."
Hardly any food, expired medication
The seven million people in Tigray have little to eat.
Tedros reported on the call for help from a doctor who had turned to the WHO.
He has not received any new medication for diabetics since June 2021.
In his distress, he began to administer expired drugs in September.
Even these were only enough for a few days.
Infusion solution was also run out, so that patients now only get one drop of water.
The United Nations have already suspended parts of their humanitarian work in Tigray.
The reason for this is the risk of drone attacks on displaced persons camps in the region, said a spokeswoman for the UN emergency aid office OCHA on Tuesday.
The step was preceded by air strikes by the Ethiopian army, apparently also on civilian targets.
According to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), at least 56 people are said to have been killed.
The attacks were concentrated on the displaced persons camp in the town of Dedebit, the TPLF said.
The military conflict began a good year ago when Abiy began to oust the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which was in power in Tigray.
The TPLF dominated Ethiopia for a good 25 years until Abiy came to power in 2018.
Many people in Tigray feel that they are not represented by the central government and are demanding more autonomy.
The TPLF announced a withdrawal from contested areas of the country in mid-December.
The multi-ethnic state in East Africa with its 115 million inhabitants is in danger of collapsing as a result of the fighting.
The United Nations accuses all parties to the conflict with serious human rights violations.
svs / dpa / AFP