Ethiopia Declares ‘Humanitarian’ Truce in Tigray

Ethiopia says the truce is unilateral and immediate to help deliver aid to the war-ravaged region. Hundreds of thousands of people in Tigray face starvation.

The Ethiopian government declared a truce in the northern Tigray region on Thursday.

It called it an immediate, “indefinite humanitarian truce effective” that would help aid deliveries reach the populace.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the war-ravaged region face starvation.

“The government calls upon the donor community to redouble their generous contributions to alleviate the situation and reiterates its commitment to work in collaboration with relevant organizations to expedite the provision of humanitarian assistance to those in need,” a statement issued by the Government Communication Service said.

It called on Tigrayan fighters to reciprocate the truce.

“To optimize the success of the humanitarian truce, the government calls upon the insurgents in Tigray to desist from all acts of further aggression and withdraw from areas they have occupied in neighboring regions,” the government said in a statement.

Tigray leaders did not immediately respond to the call.

How bad is the situation in Tigray?

The government of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has faced increasing pressure to ensure humanitarian aid reaches the region. It has been largely cut off from food, aid, medical supplies, cash and fuel since June.

The Tigray region has a population of around 6 million. The United Nations said in January that as many as 40% of the people there are on the edge of famine. The World Food Program warned that three-quarters of Tigray’s population “using extreme coping strategies to survive” and more than a third “are suffering an extreme lack of food.”

The latest announcement comes shortly after US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, David Satterfield, visited the capital Addis Ababa.

Government forces have been fighting the Tigray People’s Liberation Front for 16 months, after Tigray leaders broke away from the government.

Thousands of people have died, and many more have been forced to flee their homes as the conflict has expanded from Tigray to the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar.

aw/rt (AFP, AP, Reuters)

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