MSF interrupts work in parts of Tigray after the death of aid workers

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders said on Wednesday it was suspending work in parts of Ethiopia’s war-affected Tigray region after three of its workers were “brutally murdered” last month.

The move is likely to fuel fears over access to life-saving aid in an area stricken by eight months of conflict and where, according to the United Nations, hundreds of thousands of people are facing famine.

At least 12 aid workers have been killed in Tigray since fighting began last November between the army and forces loyal to the region’s former ruling party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF).

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, announced on June 25 that a Spanish employee and two Ethiopian employees had been killed, although details of the attack, including who was responsible, are unknown.

“Almost two weeks since the murders of our colleagues, no one has claimed responsibility and the circumstances of their deaths remain unclear,” MSF director of operations Teresa Sancristoval said on Wednesday.

“That is why we are calling for an immediate investigation by the parties concerned to establish the facts of the incident which resulted in their deaths and to provide us with a detailed account of what happened and who was responsible for it.”

Ethiopia said in June that MSF staff were killed in the Abi Adi area, 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the regional capital Mekele, adding that the TPLF was operating there.

The Tigrayan leaders blamed the killings on government forces.

Sancristoval said MSF was taking the “extremely painful but necessary decision to suspend our activities in several regions of Tigray”, including Abi Adi, Adigrat and Axum.

All three saw heavy fighting, and Axum was the site of a massacre by Eritrean troops in late November that left dozens dead.

The suspension of activities “will have major medical and humanitarian repercussions for the population of central Tigray,” MSF warned.

The MSF workers killed were aid coordinator Maria Hernandez, 35, of Madrid; Yohannes Halefom Reda, a 31-year-old coordinating assistant; and the pilot Tedros Gebremariam Gebremichael, also 31 years old.

Fears of “siege”

The issue of humanitarian access has taken on new urgency since pro-TPLF fighters – now renamed the Tigray Defense Force (TDF) – retook the regional capital Mekele last week.

Abiy’s government declared a unilateral ceasefire hours later, but world leaders warned of a possible ‘siege’ of the region, with bridges entering Tigray destroyed and access restricted. .

“There is an embargo on flights to Tigray, the Internet and telecommunications have been cut. Telecommunications points essential to humanitarian operators have been confiscated,” the European commissioner in charge of crisis management told the European Parliament on Tuesday, Janez Lenarcic.

“This is not a ceasefire, it is a siege and famine is used as a weapon of war.”

MSF called on all parties to the conflict to ensure the safety of aid workers.

“Humanitarian organizations, including MSF, have been repeatedly undermined by public statements casting unjustified suspicion of their activities, thus endangering the safety of their teams in the field,” he said.

Ethiopia has said accusations of starving the Tigrayan population are “beyond pale”.

The government said on Wednesday it had authorized humanitarian flights to the region, although a UN official told AFP none had taken off.

The United Nations has warned that around 350,000 people in Tigray are on the brink of famine, while the United States has said the figure has risen to 900,000.

“Bury our enemies”

Tigrayan leaders said they would only accept Abiy’s call for a ceasefire if forces from Eritrea and the Ethiopian region of Amhara – which supported the Ethiopian army – withdrew. also from Tigray.

In a television interview on Tuesday, the pre-war President of Tigray, Debretsion Gebremichael, said these forces were still in the area and hampered the distribution of aid.

“Humanitarian aid does not reach the needy people in Tigray, but rather supports the invading forces,” he said.

Analysts warn that the next outbreak of fighting could focus on western Tigray, in territory annexed by Amhara forces who say it is theirs by right.

In the interview, Debretsion said the Tigrayan leaders were still on the war footing.

“We call on the Tigrayan youth to continue volunteering to join our forces, until we bury our enemies,” he said.