Thread by @landofjeganu

On the humanitarian Situation in TIGRAY. What we know so far, why the Fed government is impeding access and what needs to be done.

A thread —

#StopWarOnTigray
#TigrayCantWait

Ever since the Abiy Ahmed led government declared war in Tigray on Nov 3 - precious human lives have been lost, Tigray terrorized and infrastructure looted and destroyed. The impact has been devastating.
1/20

The humanitarian crisis in tigray has been discussed by many outside of Ethiopia but the federal government has remained silent and actively obstructed access. Starving the very people it claimed to be “saving” through this cruel war.

#Tigray
2/20

What is not debatable is that there had been more than 1.8 million people in Tigray that needed urgent humanitarian assistance before the War on Tigray broke out.

#TigrayCantWait
3/20

Majority of those had been on Safety Net Programs for so long and this had already been exacerbated due to the Fed Gov’t & Amhara Regional State’s joint action of blockade of transportation & withdrawal of budgetary & other supports to Tigray.

4/20

After the War on Tigray started, the Ethiopian government has for long denied the fact that people have been starving and that urgent humanitarian support is desperately needed.

5/20

It was only after widespread reports of hunger and lack of food by Tigrayan activists, humanitarian agencies & inter’l media that the government began begrudgingly admitting the need for humanitarian assistance in Tigray.

6/20

But the government is still insisting that the amount of people that need humanitarian assistance are around 2.5 million, meaning only additional 700K people need help due to the conflict. That’s not even close to the truth.

7/20

The figures provided by the Federal government imposed interim administration of Tigray is different. They’ve said more than 4.5 million people in Tigray need an urgent humanitarian assistance while more than 2.5 million people are internally displaced.

8/20

Amidst all this humanitarian catastrophe, the federal government has denied access to international humanitarian agencies which are willing and able to provide much needed humanitarian assistance in Tigray.

9/20

Instead of making this simple humane decision of allowing access, the gov’t has been busy hiring DC based lobbyists to preserve its image & launching shameless & badly organized twitter campaigns to silence Tegaru advocates.

10/20

This has forced renowned international media outlets such as the Economist to accuse the government of wielding hunger as a means of war to subdue Tigray and its people. As Robert Kaplan famously said in the 1980s, “Surrender or Starve”.

11/20

In fact, UN agencies declare that the situation in Tigray is one level below the stage of famine. If assistance is not provided in the next few days, not weeks, major famine is around the corner. There already are reports of people dying of starvation.

12/20

So why is the federal government not allowing free, unfettered and independent humanitarian assistance to Tigray as is demanded by all humanitarian agencies? What is the true reason?

13/20

A few reasons come to mind:
The first one is the obvious strategy of dictators: use famine and starvation to subdue a population. The ultimatum is clear: surrender or starve.

#TigrayCantWait
14/20

The second reason could be the fact that Eritrean troops now control much of Tigray & if the federal government were to allow unfettered access to humanitarian agencies & media, then the the world would know ...

15/20

... the world would know about the war crimes being committed by the triple forces of Amhara regional state, the ENDF and Eritrean Troops.

Time will reveal the damage these forces have inflicted on Tegaru & the depth of betrayal by the Eth Gov’t.

#TigrayCantWait
16/20

It could also possibly be because the Eritrean troops are now beyond the control & command of the Ethiopian government.

Remember when soldiers shot at a UN mission back in November? And the conflicting &embarrassing statements regarding the involvement of Eritrean troops?

17/20

The major reason, however, remains to be that the Eth gov’t dreads the possibility that TPLF, would be able to sustain its resistance and win this war if the gov’t didn’t forcefully & completely subdue its support base i.e. the people of Tigray.

#TigrayCantWait
18/20

Independent & unfettered Humanitarian access now. End the black out and allow access to local & intern’l media. Stop starving our people & chocking them from asking for help! The world is watching!

#TigrayCantWait
19/20

For those who want to help this call for access to humanitarian assistance please use #TigrayCantWait & amplify the voices of Tegaru advocates working to save human lives. Thank you!

20/End

Linking this here to strengthen the point in this thread >>>

#TigrayCantWait
#StopWarOnTigray

https://twitter.com/unocha/status/1361632163406389250