The United States provides an additional nearly $52 million in assistance to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and continues its call for the withdrawal of Amhara militias from Tigray Region of Ethiopia, which has been refuted by the Government of Ethiopia as illegal interference in its internal affairs.
The United States has provided a total of nearly $153 million in humanitarian assistance since the crisis began, said U.S. government. This assistance from the American people will enable our international humanitarian partners to help some of the estimated 4.5 million people in need in Tigray and nearly 62,000 refugees who have fled to Sudan.
“It will allow our partners to provide lifesaving protection, shelter, essential health care, emergency food aid, water, sanitation, and hygiene services. This funding will also help our partners re-establish contact between family members who have been separated due to the conflict. U.S. Agency for International Development’s Disaster Assistance Response Team remains deployed in support of U.S. humanitarian response efforts,” the statement from U.S. said.
“We remain gravely concerned about the worsening humanitarian crisis in Tigray. While we acknowledge public commitments and progress made by the Government of Ethiopia on increasing humanitarian access, the international community must see follow-through on all commitments, including lifting restrictions on the import and use of communications equipment by humanitarian organizations and providing extended visas for international humanitarian workers. Immediate, full, safe, and unhindered access for humanitarian organizations and workers is essential to provide timely, needs-based assistance to those affected by the conflict.”
“The humanitarian situation will continue to worsen without a political solution. A cessation of hostilities, the immediate withdrawal of Eritrean forces, and an end to the Ethiopian government’s deployment of Amhara regional forces in Tigray are essential first steps. There needs to be accountability for all those responsible for human rights abuses and atrocities, whether they be in the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces, Eritrea Defense Forces, or Amhara regional forces,” the U.S. said in its statement.
It is recalled that the Ethiopian government has responded to U.S. government’s call for the withdrawal of Amhara forces from Tigray Region a few weeks ago as interference in its internal affairs. Ethiopia opposed U.S foreign minister statement as interference in its national sovereignty and indicated that Ethiopia as a sovereign independent nation will not need permission from U.S. government to move its security forces within its internationally recognized territory.
Following that the attempt by the U.S. Government to bring the issue to UN Security Council has also failed after China, Russia and India opposed the draft proposition by the U.S. indicating that the issue is fully internal affairs of Ethiopia.
“The United States and the international community are monitoring the situation closely to ensure that the Government of Ethiopia honors its public commitments to permit both independent international and domestic investigations of the abuses and hold the responsible parties accountable. We welcome the contributions of other donors toward this crisis response and urge still others to generously support the immediate humanitarian needs created by the crisis in the Tigray region,” U.S. said.
TPLF, which has been on power for close to three decades was a strong ally of the United Sates Government in the fight against terrorism in East Africa. Meanwhile after TPLF has lost its dominance within the ruling coalition following the election of Abiy Ahmed, the former rebels have decided to go back to bush after waging a military attack on the northern command of Ethiopian defense force based in Tigray region last Novemebr.
In retaliation to the attack the Ethiopian defense force has opened a full scale military attack which finally liberated the majority of the Tigray Region from TPLF leadership. TPLF leadership which began the war after about two years of preparations spending stolen billions of dollars on lobbyists and international media outlets, has managed to secure sympathy from its former allies such as, the United States Government, which took the rule of law enforcement operation of Ethiopian Government in Tigray Region to UN Security Council and failed.
Political analysts in the Horn Africa have been indicating that restoration of peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea after Abiy Ahmed came to power, which has been resulting in genuine African solutions for African problems in conflicts within Sudan, South Sudan, and Somalia is considered by countries like the United Sates as a threat that brings an end to their aid related diplomacy in Eastern Africa and the region in general.