On Friday, July 30, 2021 USAID announced that it would be providing Ethiopia with $149 million in additional humanitarian assistance to fight famine in Tigray. This announcement preceded USAID Administrator Samantha Power’s trip to Ethiopia and Sudan from July 31 to August 4. According to USAID, the purpose of her trip was “to strengthen the U.S. Government’s partnership with Sudan’s transitional leaders and citizens, explore how to expand USAID’s support for Sudan’s transition to a civilian-led democracy, and continue to press the Government of Ethiopia to allow full and unhindered humanitarian access to prevent famine in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.”
OLLAA applauds the efforts of Power, USAID, and the United States government in taking further action in the region and continuing to be more outspoken about the desperate humanitarian situation throughout Ethiopia as the entire Horn of Africa continues to destabilize. These funds create a foundation of support for people who desperately need it, but without Ethiopian federal forces allowing aid groups and convoys to access the area, the money is useless. And without the spotlight being spread beyond Tigray, peace will never be accomplished, regardless of how many hundreds of millions of dollars are provided.
Humanitarian convoys continue to be attacked en route to towns throughout the country while aid groups, including Doctors without Borders and the Norwegian Refugee Council, are being banned. On July 19, The Daily Mail reported “A convoy bearing food for Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray came under attack at the weekend, the United Nations said Monday, dealing a further blow to aid distribution in a region threatened with famine.” On August 4, during talks with Ethiopian officials, Power called the situation “‘an alarming humanitarian catastrophe,’” saying all parties involved should agree to an immediate cease-fire. She also said blockades have hindered distribution of aid, leading to supplies sitting in warehouses unable to reach those in need.”
Ethiopia’s government has blamed the blockage of aid on the Tigray forces, while “a senior USAID official last week told The Associated Press that the allegation is ‘100% not the case.’” Some aid trucks have been able to get through, but at least 100 per day are needed to provide food and supplies to the hundreds of thousands of civilians who need help.
The focus of the international community may be on Tigray and Amhara right now, but its impact is widespread. OLLAA calls for Power, USAID, the UN, the United States government, and Ethiopian officials to focus on Oromia and the surrounding provinces who are also facing famine and humanitarian crisis. The war in Tigray has decimated a year of farming, leaving hundreds of thousands starving, and the violence has spread from the north to the south, spurred on by the “dehumanizing rhetoric” from Prime Minister Abey, which, Power says, “only hardens tensions and can, and historically, certainly, often accompanies ethnically-motivated atrocities.”
OLLAA continues to highlight violence in other parts of the country and advocate for peace, with the understanding that the only way peace is possible in Ethiopia is with the inclusion of the Oromo people within the dialogue about the future of the country. Ms. Power reiterates this point: “It’s extremely important that all parties involved in the conflict come to the table and move away from what is an increasingly ratcheted up set of accusations and counter accusations and focus instead on the dialogue that is going to be needed for an inclusive peace and an end to the suffering of civilians.”
Yet, the international community continues to overlook Oromos. Back in May, the United Nations released “$65 million for humanitarian aid in Ethiopia, including $40 million for the Tigray region…the remaining $25 million will fund aid operations in the rest of Ethiopia, including in response to drought in the Somali and Oromia regions. It said funds will be used to treat children with severe acute malnutrition, rehabilitate water systems and supply water to drought-affected communities and to pre-position humanitarian supplies.” This is not enough. Oromos account for at least half of the population of Ethiopia. Until those with decision making powers and deep pockets take actions that align with their words, the violence and political destabilization will continue.
As reported by Human Rights Watch, “human rights groups and the media have reported numerous abuses by government security forces, including extrajudicial killings, summary executions of detainees, arbitrary arrests, and repeated communications’ shutdowns in western Oromia. Armed groups in the area have allegedly also abducted or killed minority community members, police officers, and government officials, and attacked aid workers and their vehicles.” This includes the daylight execution of a 17-year-old boy, Amanuel, in Dembi Dollo, a town in the Kellem Wollega zone of western Oromia during May of this year.
It is imperative that the international community, including Ms. Power and USAID, as well as the UN, look beyond the spotlight that currently illuminates Tigray, to see the suffering, abuses, and famine that also engulfs Oromia.