USAID Chief Calls on Tigray Defense Forces to Exit Border Regions
2 Min Read
USAID Administrator Samantha Power calls on the Tigray Defense Forces to ‘immediately’ withdraw from the Amhara and Afar border regions.
-
Ethiopian National Defense Forces in the Tigray Region
Samantha Power, the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, called on the Tigray Defense Forces to ‘immediately’ withdraw from two regions bordering Tigray.
According to the United Nations, Tigray has been enduring a severe humanitarian crisis for months now. Access to the region remains obstructed by delays and administrative hurdles.
The danger was exacerbated this week with Abiy Ahmed's government suspending the work of two non-governmental organizations, accusing them of ‘disinformation.’
The Ethiopian authorities said Wednesday that Doctors Without Borders and the Norwegian Refugee Council were "spreading misinformation through social media and other platforms outside the mandate and objectives under which the two organizations were allowed to operate."
The US condemned the decision; its representative said it was ‘unacceptable.’
The Tigray region plunged into violence in November as Prime Minister Ahmed dispatched his forces to oust local authorities of the Tigray People's Liberation Front after accusing them of attacking military camps.
On Wednesday, Ethiopia announced that 157 humanitarian aid trucks, sent by the United Nations and NGOs, had arrived in Mek'ele.
Moreover, UNICEF warns that in the next 12 months, more than 100,000 children - 10 times the annual rate - are threatened by severe acute malnutrition, which could lead to death.
