UN / ETHIOPIA HUMANITARIAN PRESSER

A UN humanitarian flight bound for embattled Ethiopia’s Tigray region that departed Addis Ababa this morning was forced to turn back in the midst of its flight, following the airstrikes on Mekele, the Tigray’s regional capital, according to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarians Affairs (OCHA). UNIFEED

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:25
• Production Date: 22 October 2021
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS - OCHA
• Subject Topical: HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
• Geographic Subject: ETHIOPIA
• MAMS Id: 2674454
• Parent Id: 2674454
• Alternate Title: unifeed211022c

Description

STORY: UN / ETHIOPIA HUMANITARIAN PRESSER
TRT: 3:25
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS

DATELINE: 22 OCTOBER 2021, NEW YORK CITY

Shotlist

FILE

1.Exterior shot, UN Headquarters

22 OCTOBER 2021, NEW YORK CITY

2.Wide shot, spokesperson at the podium, Connell on screen
3.SOUNDBITE (English) Gemma Connell, Head of Regional Office for Southern and Eastern Africa, OCHA:
“As many of you are now aware, a UN humanitarian flight that departed Addis Ababa this morning was forced to turn back in the midst of its flight, after airstrikes began in Mekele. I can confirm that the government was informed of that flight before it took off, and of course I can also confirm that the flight was forced to turn back in midair, because of the events on the ground. While we're still ascertaining all of the facts in relation to this event, we're obviously concerned about what has taken place today, and what it means for the humanitarian operations in northern Ethiopia moving forward.”
4.Wide shot, spokesperson at the podium, Connell on screen
5.SOUNDBITE (English) Gemma Connell, Head of Regional Office for Southern and Eastern Africa, OCHA:
“Today, there are around 7 million people in northern Ethiopia in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. That includes over 5 million people in Tigray region, and the other 2 million are split between Amhara and Afar. There are many many people who have been displaced, of those many have been displaced from their homes, more than once have been forced to flee, without shelter. We have rates of acute malnutrition that are rising every day, and not just among children. Nearly half of the pregnant and lactating women in Tigray are also now acutely malnourished.”
6. Wide shot, spokesperson at the podium, Connell on screen
7.SOUNDBITE (English) Gemma Connell, Head of Regional Office for Southern and Eastern Africa, OCHA:
“We also need cash. If we don't have cash on the ground in Tigray, our staff and their families are unable to get themselves the food that they require to continue on their own lives while at the same time serving others. If we don't have cash on the ground in Tigray, we're unable to buy the supplies that we need for the basic day to day operations, and beyond that of course we need aid supplies: 90 trucks a day of fuel and food you've all heard that before. And another 10 trucks every day of other items; essential medicines nutritional supplies, all of the other things that we required to save lives inside of Tigray.”
8. Wide shot, spokesperson at the podium, Connell on screen
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Gemma Connell, Head of Regional Office for Southern and Eastern Africa, OCHA:
“But it's not just in Tigray that we're having challenges. We're also especially because of the conflict that has escalated in the last two weeks, facing very significant challenges to reach people who have been extremely hard hit by this conflict in the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar. It is absolutely vital that we're able to move into areas where people have been newly displaced. We spoke to colleagues on the ground. We know that there are people who are fleeing for their lives. And those are the people that we have to be able to reach.”
10. Wide shot, spokesperson at the podium, Connell on screen
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Gemma Connell, Head of Regional Office for Southern and Eastern Africa, OCHA:
So, there are a multitude of factors that are hindering our ability to get the right amount of trucks in every single day. One of them are the approvals from the federal government that depends on the basis of different supply, the office, the challenges that we face at the checkpoints along the route so there have been times when we've had permission to move from the federal government and then have proceeded to move and be stopped at a checkpoint, this is in remain within the control of the regional forces of the federal government. And we have also faced challenges where we meet community resistance, where communities have stopped us and prevented our ability to move because of their own frustration because they are not receiving the assistance that they believe that they deserve.”
12. Wide shot, spokesperson at the podium, Connell on screen

Storyline

A UN humanitarian flight bound for embattled Ethiopia’s Tigray region that departed Addis Ababa this morning was forced to turn back in the midst of its flight, following the airstrikes on Mekele, the Tigray’s regional capital, according to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarians Affairs (OCHA).

"I can confirm that the government was informed of that flight before it took off,” the Head of the OCHA’s Regional Office for Southern and Eastern Africa Gemma Connell said via videolink at a press conference in New York on Friday (22 Oct). “While we're still ascertaining all of the facts in relation to this event, we're obviously concerned about what has taken place today, and what it means for the humanitarian operations in northern Ethiopia moving forward.”

The delay in delivering the humanitarian assistance to impoverished region is alarming, since some operations were already cancelled due to fuel shortage, adding to already difficult humanitarian situation.

“Today, there are around 7 million people in northern Ethiopia in desperate need of humanitarian assistance,” Connell said. “That includes over 5 million people in Tigray region, and the other 2 million are split between Amhara and Afar. There are many many people who have been displaced, of those many have been displaced from their homes, more than once have been forced to flee, without shelter. We have rates of acute malnutrition that are rising every day, and not just among children. Nearly half of the pregnant and lactating women in Tigray are also now acutely malnourished.”

The humanitarians are also strapped for cash on the ground which they need for paying their staff and to “buy the supplies that we need for the basic day to day operations,” Connell said.

Humanitarians are also facing “very significant challenges to reach people who have been extremely hard hit by this conflict in the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar. It is absolutely vital that we're able to move into areas where people have been newly displaced,” she said.

“The multitude” of issues hindering the delivery of aid include the approvals from the federal government and the problems on the checkpoints along the road as well as the community resistance in some areas, according to OCHA official.