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STORY: UN / ETHIOPIA UPDATE
TRT: 02:33
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 04 FEBRUARY 2022, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Aerial shot, UN headquarters exterior
04 FEBRUARY 2022, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, spokesperson Eri Kaneko at the dais
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Eri Kaneko, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, United Nations:
“In Ethiopia, clashes in the northern region of Afar are leading to growing humanitarian needs and preventing the delivery of aid into the neighbouring Tigray region. More than 200,000 people have been displaced from recent fighting in the region, according to authorities there. Fighting has also prevented the UN and our partners from conducting assessments. However, those displaced are believed to be in urgent need of assistance. In areas of Afar that can be accessed, the humanitarian response continues, and more than 40,000 people have received food in the past week - and this is more than 420,000 people who have been reached since mid-October. The delivery of humanitarian supplies into Tigray via the Semera-Abala-Mekelle Road remains suspended due to the insecurity in Afar. The UN and our partners have suspended or significantly reduced programmes due to the lack of supplies and fuel. During the past week, reduced levels of food assistance were provided to displaced people and host communities in the town of Shire. As we told you last week, the World Food Programme has found that more than 80 percent of people in the areas it surveyed were food insecure, and nearly 40 percent were facing severe food insecurity. Humanitarian assistance continues to be scaled up in the Amhara region, with more than 800,000 people having been assisted with food in the past week. In other parts of Ethiopia, as well as in neighbouring Somalia and Kenya, drought conditions are driving up humanitarian needs, affecting millions of people. Additional funding is urgently needed to support this response. Also, on Ethiopia, the UN Refugee Agency and its partners are rushing aid to more than 20,000 refugees after they fled clashes in Ethiopia’s Benishangul Gumuz region, which borders Sudan and South Sudan. Fighting broke out on January 18th in the town of Tongo – reportedly between unidentified armed groups and federal forces – and the nearby camp hosting 10,300 refugees was looted and burned. This followed the looting of another camp in the area in late December. A total of 22,000 people in both camps were then cut off from access and assistance. All humanitarian staff had to evacuate, and access to the area, including the two camps, remains impossible. UNHCR is working with the Ethiopian Government and partners to provide the most urgent assistance to displaced refugees, including hot meals, clean water, and medical care.”
4. Wide shot, press room
“In Ethiopia, clashes in the northern region of Afar are leading to growing humanitarian needs and preventing the delivery of aid into the neighbouring Tigray region. More than 200,000 people have been displaced from recent fighting in the region, according to authorities there,” said United Nations spokesperson Eri Kaneko.
Fighting has also prevented the UN and our partners from conducting assessments. “However, those displaced are believed to be in urgent need of assistance,” Kaneko highlighted.
In areas of Afar that can be accessed, the humanitarian response continues, and more than 40,000 people have received food in the past week.
The delivery of humanitarian supplies into Tigray via the Semera-Abala-Mekelle Road remains suspended due to the insecurity in Afar.
During the past week, reduced levels of food assistance were provided to displaced people and host communities in the town of Shire.
Humanitarian assistance continues to be scaled up in the Amhara region, with more than 800,000 people having been assisted with food in the past week.
In other parts of Ethiopia and neighbouring Somalia and Kenya, drought conditions drive up humanitarian needs, affecting millions of people.
The UN spokesperson added that the UN Refugee Agency and its partners are “rushing aid to more than 20,000 refugees after they fled clashes in Ethiopia’s Benishangul Gumuz region, which borders Sudan and South Sudan.”
Fighting broke out on January 18th in the town of Tongo, and the nearby camp hosting 10,300 refugees was looted and burned. This followed the looting of another camp in the area in late December.
“A total of 22,000 people in both camps were then cut off from access and assistance. All humanitarian staff had to evacuate, and access to the area including the two camps remains impossible,” Kaneko added.
