September 14, 2023
The Tigray region of northern Ethiopia suffered a devastating two-year war between November 2020 and 2022. Power struggles killed thousands, forced thousands to flee, and plunged people into poverty. , hunger and abandonment to those who did not have the opportunity to escape the violence. Almost seven months after the end of the conflict, the situation for the majority of the population continues to be dramatic. Schools finally opened their doors last month, but millions of people suffer the economic, physical and psychological consequences of the war. Salesian missionaries are trying to help restore normality and offer education to minors and young people in the area in their four presences in Tigray: Makelle, Adigrat, Adwa and Shire.
The civil war between the Ethiopian army and the Tigray Liberation Front lasted two years and had a devastating balance of more than half a million dead y two million displaced internal. More than 90% of the country’s six million inhabitants still depend on the humanitarian aid for their survival.
More than 10 months after the peace agreement, in November last year, the Ethiopian province of Tigray is still in the middle of a huge humanitarian crisis that goes unnoticed by the world. “The current situation in Tigray province is apparently much worse than during the great famine in Ethiopia in 1984 and 1985. At that time, the international community was shocked and everyone showed solidarity. Now, the need is even greaterbut it seems that no one cares,” say the Salesian missionaries.
A large part of the infrastructure in the northernmost and multi-ethnic province of the Ethiopian state has been destroyed and the situation security remains precarious. The only good news is that the war is over and all those involved want paz, electricity y a banking system so it works. Flights and communications have also resumed after two years of isolation and lack of communication.
Hunger and lack of food are the two great emergencies for the population of Tigray
The food aid for Tigray it remains a priority. “Many people have died of hunger and are still dying, especially those nursing mothers and the little children who have run away. Even if they survive, the malnutrition “It will harm their brain development and, therefore, their quality of life,” the Salesian missionaries recall. “Agriculture has also started very slowly, since all farm animals disappeared during the war, and furthermore, there is still a lack of medicines and hospitals“, they add.
There is also a great need in the educational field. 1.3 million children and young people they have lost three years schoolchildren in Tigray, first because of the pandemic, then because of the war, and now because many schools are destroyed.
Overcoming trauma and healing must therefore begin immediately, since approximately 200,000 women region of were raped by soldiers, often in groups, during war. “Reconciliation will last several generations, and small-scale forgiveness must begin with pursuit of justice and the satisfaction of the needs necessary for survival, as well as with the active participation of the educational sector,” explain the Salesians.
Furthermore, with war that exploded in Sudan in April, now refugees arrive in Ethiopia, often as returnees of the approximately 75,000 displaced people who had previously fled the conflict in Tigray. There are no other options for them in the Horn of Africa and the chaos It also currently reigns in the neighboring countries of Somalia, South Sudan, Egypt and Eritrea.
2023-09-14 05:09:15
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