Ethiopia, U.N. Reach Deal To Allow ‘Unimpeded’ Access For Aid Groups In Tigray

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A child plays in front of a hotel damaged by mortar shelling last month in Humera, in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. On Wednesday, United Nations officials announced that they had reached a deal with Ethiopian leaders to allow humanitarian groups access to the disputed region.

Eduardo Soteras/AFP via Getty Images

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Eduardo Soteras/AFP via Getty Images

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Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in the state has eroded to the point that tens of thousands of Ethiopians have fled for their lives.

The U.N.’s refugee agency on Tuesday estimated that nearly 46,000 people have crossed the border into Sudan since the start of November. The agency fears that by April, without an adequate response, that number may climb to anywhere from 100,000 to 200,000 Ethiopian refugees.

Back in Tigray, an agency spokesperson warned that the war has effectively severed aid to nearly 100,000 Eritrean refugees living in camps in the region. The refugees fled political persecution and compulsory military service in neighboring Eritrea, only to find themselves caught in the middle of a new conflict in Ethiopia.

«The camps [in Tigray] will have now run out of food supplies — making hunger and malnutrition a real danger, spokesman Babar Baloch said in a recorded appeal for help Tuesday. «We are also alarmed at unconfirmed reports of attacks, abductions and forced recruitment at the refugee camps.

Abreu, the OCHA spokesperson, said the agency is planning to conduct an «assessment and response mission Wednesday for internally displaced people in Afar, the state on Tigray’s eastern border. As for specifics in Tigray itself, though, he noted that «discussions regarding operational details are still ongoing.