Addis Ababa: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) overall situation in the conflict-hit northern Ethiopia is generally calm but remains tense and unpredictable.
In its latest situation update on Friday, the UNOCHA said humanitarian partners have continued to move additional humanitarian supplies into the northernmost conflict-ridden Tigray region with three convoys arriving in the regional capital Mekelle during the reporting week, with a total of 319 trucks, reports Xinhua news agency.
It said the humanitarian aid convoy constituted the highest number of trucks entering the region in a single week since June 2021.
According to figures from the UNOCHA, more than 9 million people need food assistance in the region and food assistance will be required throughout 2022.
It said seeds and fertilizers are urgently needed to farmers in Northern Ethiopia as the East African country’s main planting season, from May to early July, will start soon.
The UNOCHA warned that failure to provide the much-needed agriculture inputs during the planting window can reduce crop yield by at least half, from an estimated 9.6 million metric tonnes to 4 million metric tonnes, and worsen the current high levels of food insecurity in Tigray.
Itfurther emphasized the need to reconstruct and rehabilitate schools that were damaged by the conflict across parts of Amhara, Tigray and Afar regions.
According to the UNOCHA, the conflict affected 4,107 schools in Amhara, of which 25 per cent were completely damaged, affecting more than 1.8 million children; and at least 200 schools in Afar were damaged affecting more than 150,000 students.
In Tigray, more than 1,000 schools were also damaged affecting an estimated 160,000 students.
Earlier this year, the Ethiopian government and the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) conditionally agreed to a cessation of hostilities and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid into the northern region.
The TPLF and the Ethiopian National Defense Force, backed by allied forces, have been engaged in a nearly 18-month conflict that has reportedly left tens of thousands of people dead and millions in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
The Ethiopian Parliament designated the TPLF as a terrorist organization in May 2021.
–IANS
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