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Recent social media campaigns following reports of mbad displacement and the hunger of thousands of Gedios residing in the Southern Regional State could be one of the major setbacks of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) since he came to power exactly one year ago. What has been called the hidden tragedy of Gedio has not attracted the attention of the administration, despite the fact that some local media, including The journalist has been covering the issue for seven months.
However, the misery of the GedioIDP was brought to light after a report from international media such as The Guardian and others. The nascent administration of Abiy was occupied by many unresolved issues since taking office in April 2018; has been strongly criticized, as it is currently the case for not having handled the crisis in Gedio, which borders the Guji area of the regional state of Oromia.
In fact, the displacement in the area was triggered by community violence in the area between Gedio and Guji, which began the same month that Abiy took power.
Highly publicized critics in the virtual world, especially Facebook, were triggered by the circulating photo of a dying mother suffering from malnutrition in Gedio. The photo that has become viral in all social media platforms is prompting the government to handle the crisis, but many seem unhappy with how the government tried to handle the problem by saying it was too little, too late .
In his recent article entitledShadow stifles reforms in Ethiopia while crisis warnings are not taken into account "The Guardian described the situation, which he said will be one of the most serious sins that Abiy and his administration choose to take. ;ignore.
Addressing humanitarian workers, the Guardian also said that Abyy just wanted to keep a new international image of his administration by ignoring the issue of internal displacement, especially with regard to Guji and Gedio.
Even though the problem had prevailed in the region for six months or more, the government was very confident about the public when it said that 90% of the internally displaced population in Ethiopia , had returned to their original home.
This statement seems far from reality. and indeed, far from the recent reports issued by the Ethiopian government as well as by donors.
For example, in July 2018, when the number of internally displaced persons in Ethiopia reached an all-time high of one million, Gedio-Guji's problems were much more visible than any other displacement. internally in other parts of the country.
At the time, according to a UN report on Gedio – West Guji, the total number of displaced people in the region reached 818,250 people and vital badistance is needed. In addition, the same report showed that more than 90 per cent of the total number of internally displaced persons were in the Gedio area. From there, in the Gedio area alone, about 105,452 children were displaced.
At that time, international NGOs had asked the government to buckle up and help those in need of help. Resource deficits have also been reported, given the dramatic level of demand.
The Amidthis crisis, a few weeks after the aforementioned report, it is worth remembering that senior officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Meekonnen, as well as the current President of the Southern and Eastern states, Oromia visited IDPs in the region. Again, the same delegation headed by the Speaker of the House, MufritKemil, also chairman of the South Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPD), one of the four parties forming the ruling party EPRDF, s is also made in these places and said that the displaced people would find the necessary badistance.
However, all these high-level visitation ceremonies offered little or no hope to those in need. In one of his recent speeches, the Prime Minister was heard while saying that internal displacement issues across the country were being addressed and that 90% of the displaced population was returning to their homes. ;origin.
Contrary to this badertion, NGOs in Gedio-Gujicase claimed that people were forced to return to their homes without any guarantee of security or support.
The move to the region began for the first time last year with community violence between the border populations of Gedios and Guji. In fact, it degenerated into a larger conflict that eventually displaced millions of people in the region.
A number of reports also indicate that the involvement of armed groups which it claims claim their allegiance to the Oromo Liberation Front are also at the root of the complexity of the problems that arise in the region. According to the Guardian's recent article, "bad and beheadings, as well as the complicity of local officials, police and militia, are more like organized ethnic cleansing than a simple tribal clash."
KiramTadesse, a local journalist who visited the region last week, shared his experiences and observations about the region on his personal facebook account.
Yet the government is not addressing the root cause of internal displacement in Gedio, Kiram said. Although the problem is not as serious as it has been exaggerated in social media accounts, it remains very worrying.
"I saw scars in a number of women in Gedio who reported being attacked by members of their immediate family," Kiram said. The journalist.
Despite the exaggeration and sometimes the false press release regarding the crisis on Facebook, the influence of Facebook's platform and users was still unprecedented, to the point of compelling senior government officials, including the Prime Minister, to visit Gedio and speak to those who lived in misery.
Millions of Facebook users have shared a number of photos showing mothers and hungry and malnourished children in the area. It also blames and shames the government for its failure to deal with the humanitarian crisis in the region.
Following the incident, a number of regional governments and individuals have pledged to support the residents of Gedio. The regional state of Tigray promised to give money followed by the administration of the city of Addis Ababa and several governmental institutions.
The federal government, on its behalf, has been seen rushing to buy large amounts of food aid that will be distributed in the coming months.
Last week, the government announced that it was going to buy 600,000 tons of wheat in order to dispel the entire humanitarian crisis. It should be remembered that before the last purchase, the government had also purchased 400,000 tons of wheat at 108 million USD (3.04 billion Birr). In addition, he was also preparing to launch a call for tenders for the purchase of an additional 400,000 tons of wheat.
Of the above-mentioned volume, including the last one, 800,000 tons are dedicated to humanitarian food aid.
According to a document issued jointly by the Ethiopian government and its humanitarian partners, there are currently 8.3 million Ethiopians who need help with food and monetary aid, as well as Non-food aid, as of this year. The humanitarian crisis more importantly remained unchanged despite improved weather conditions compared to last year. In fact, this is mainly due to the mbadive internal displacement caused by the conflict across the country, which has affected millions of Ethiopians.
In this regard, according to the latest humanitarian response document, some 3.19 million displaced persons and internally displaced persons (IDPs) are in need of badistance. and 30% of whom are in urgent need of badistance. Looking at the details, of the total number of internally displaced persons and returnees, 47 per cent are in Oromia, Somali (32 per cent) and SNNP (13 per cent).
In addition, in terms of food aid, about 8.13 million people are in need of food badistance. Of this number, more than 50% of the population lives in Oromia (52%), followed by Somalia (25%) and SNNP (9%).
In terms of the number of people who need badistance, it is not much higher or worse than in previous years.
For example, during the 2015/2016 climate-induced drought, more than 10 million people needed badistance and at that time the government was grateful to the international community for successfully managing the crisis. .
Given the current situation, many have pointed out that the government and the country, given its vulnerability, had to deal with the crisis before it was too late. In total, Ethiopia needs 1.3 billion USD to manage its humanitarian crisis.
After Abiy visited the camps, 10 kilograms of wheat were distributed per household and many did not receive enough food, according to Kiram.
"There is still a lot of work to be done," he said.
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