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Mothers in Ethiopia’s war-ravaged Tigray region say they gave leaves to their children in a desperate attempt to keep them alive.
As they move from place to place, avoiding fighting and seeking help, they watch for telltale signs of malnutrition: laziness, rashes, loss of appetite.
These signs are more and more frequent these days and, in some cases, portend the worst possible outcome, according to internal documents and photographs from an aid agency – seen this week by AFP – which detail the starvation deaths in two locations, with more suspects elsewhere.
“Before the war my daughter was in good physical and mental health … now look at her,” said mother of 20-month-old in northern town of Adigrat, according to testimony provided by the agency.
“It has been weeks since she lost her appetite. Currently, she cannot walk, she has lost her smiley face.”
It has been nearly three months since the UN warned that 400,000 people across Tigray had “crossed the threshold of famine.”
The situation has only deteriorated since then, as a de facto blockade prevents most aid from entering.
Now, after months of bitter fighting and massacres that have left thousands dead, doctors fear that Tigray is entering a new phase of death caused by the type of widespread famine that has made Ethiopia a synonym for famine in the 1980s.
“It’s a silent killing. People are dying,” said Dr Hayelom Kebede, research director at Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekele, the capital of Tigray, the largest in the region.
“With famine, the worst part is that you will see people dying, but they will not die right away,” he told AFP.
“It takes a while, after their body is weakened and weakened and weakened. It’s more horrible than death by gunshot.”
“Indications of a seat”
Nobel Peace Prize winner Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops to Tigray in November to overthrow the region’s ruling party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF), a move he says is intervened in response to TPLF attacks on army camps.
The fighting disrupted crops in an area that was already struggling to provide enough food, and some fighters made matters worse by blocking and looting food aid.
Pressure is mounting on the government to address aid shortages. By EDUARDO SOTERAS (AFP / File) In a stunning reversal in late June, the TPLF retook most of Tigray, including Mekele, and government forces largely withdrew.
Abiy’s office announced a humanitarian ceasefire, but very little help has arrived – less than 10 percent of the supplies needed in the past month, according to the United States.
Federal officials accuse the TPLF of hampering deliveries, citing recent offensives in neighboring Afar and Amhara regions.
Last week, the UN sounded the alarm about hundreds of aid trucks it said had not “returned” from Tigray, although the TPLF said this was due to obstacles encountered. by drivers from Afar, which is currently home to the only viable route to Tigray.
With the fighting in Afar apparently over, at least for now, pressure is mounting on the government to address aid shortages.
“The United States is appalled by reports of starvation deaths in Ethiopia,” a State Department spokesperson told AFP this week.
“Access by road and air, which along with electricity, telecommunications, banking and fuel are essential for the delivery of aid, are denied by the Ethiopian government – signs a seat. “
US President Joe Biden last week signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against warring parties if they do not engage in a negotiated settlement.
No food, no medicine
At Ayder Hospital, evidence of a shortage is everywhere.
At least 50 children are receiving intensive care for malnutrition, Hayelom said, but there’s not much doctors can do for them.
“We used to provide these children with nutrients, but now we have no medicine and we have no food stock, so we couldn’t support them,” he said.
The EU’s first humanitarian “airlift” flight reached Mekele on September 11 with therapeutic food for severely malnourished children, but authorities withdrew the drugs before the flight could take off from Addis Ababa, according to an official. United Nations humanitarian agency report.
Even some doctors and nurses, unable to access their salaries with the suspension of banking operations, make do with a roasted barley snack known as kolo, Hayelom said.
He tried to alert the Department of Health, but the response was muted.
“They said ‘yes, we are also worried’ but they have no capacity” other than to raise the issue with Abiy’s office and government ministers, he said.
It is not known how long the children in the hospital will be able to last, he said.
“Catastrophic” scenario
Outside of Mekele, pockets of starvation have already appeared.
The interim administration set up by Abiy reported in April about eight such cases in the town of Ofla.
More recently, three famine deaths were confirmed in Mehoni south of Mekele and two in Adwa in the northwest, according to aid agency documents reviewed by AFP, which reflect only limited assessments.
The agency provided the documents on condition of anonymity for fear of sanctions from the Ethiopian government, which suspended the work of several NGOs.
Map of Ethiopia and its regions. By Simon MALFATTO (AFP / File) Although fighting in the region has largely subsided in recent months, parts of Tigray remain inaccessible, making a comprehensive picture impossible to obtain.
Tigrayan leaders reported that 150 people starved to death in August and a million were “at risk of fatal famine”, but these figures could not be independently verified.
UNICEF estimated in July that more than 100,000 children could suffer from life-threatening acute malnutrition over the next 12 months, 10 times the annual average.
Many Tigrayans fear a repeat of the 1980s famine, which also occurred during internal conflict and, according to the UN, killed around a million people.
The Catholic Bishop of Adigrat, Tesfaselassie Medhin, raised the specter of such a scenario in a letter dated September 3 calling for an expansion of humanitarian aid.
“The current situation on the ground shows that any delay (…) would end in catastrophic famine and the death of millions of people,” he wrote.
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