Falls Church, Virginia (08/09/2022) – Last week, OLLAA submitted letters to USAID, the World Food Programme (WFP), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO), regarding the humanitarian crisis in Oromia. In these letters, we raised their attention to the humanitarian situation inside Oromia, and noted factors that point towards the humanitarian situation on the ground being more dire than official sources have claimed. We urged these bodies to provide further assistance to the region and to conduct monitoring visits to areas affected by the drought and conflicts in order to gain a more complete picture of the extent of humanitarian need in Oromia.
As previously reported by OLLAA, the southern regions of Ethiopia are currently experiencing a severe drought. Recent reports suggest that at least 8 million individuals throughout the Somali, Oromia, SNNP, and South-West regions have been affected by the drought, and 2.2 million livestock have died. UNICEF has estimated that 600,000 children will require treatment for severe acute malnutrition by the end of 2022, and the World Food Programme has stated that the drought has led to food insecurity for 9.88 million people, including 3.3 million inside Oromia. On July 29th, the head of Ethiopia’s emergency relief office in Sabbaa Boruu District, Guji zone, told reporters that at least 12 people had died of hunger in that district so far, and that 38,000 people were “facing acute starvation” in that district alone. In addition, numerous factors, including the drought and conflict, have led to the internal displacement of countless civilians, who also need humanitarian assistance.
OLLAA is concerned that official reports may be significantly underestimating the true extent of humanitarian need throughout Oromia. We have consistently heard reports that the Ethiopian government and NGOs have failed to provide local communities with humanitarian assistance over the past two years. Recently, UN OCHA has reported that humanitarian access throughout many parts of Oromia has been “significantly constrained by the ongoing insecurity.” We have also received a report from an Ethiopian official regarding how the government counts the total number of displaced persons inside Oromia. According to our source, individuals are only labeled as IDPs during the first six months of their displacement, after that time, they are no longer considered “displaced.” Taken together, these factors suggest that the true level of humanitarian need may be much greater than what has been officially reported by the Ethiopian government.
Based on the above, OLLAA asked these organizations to take further measures to ensure that humanitarian aid is provided to all civilians in need across Oromia, and to gain a fuller picture of the extent of need across the region, including by conducting monitoring visits to areas affected by the drought and conflicts.
OLLAA is an umbrella organization that works in collaboration with dozens of Oromo communities around the world.