Gov’t Vows to Reinstate Socio-Economic Activities in Tigray

Addis Ababa December 9/2020 (ENA) The social and economic activities of major cities and towns in Tigray to be resumed soon under the interim administration alongside apprehending criminals, State of Emergency Spokesperson, Redwan Hussien said.

Redwan on Tuesday briefed the media along with Disaster Risk Management Commissioner, Mitiku Kassa on the current situation in Tigray Regional State.  

He reviewed that the government has given priority to reinstating infrastructure and rehabilitation of the affected people and areas in the region.

He also underlined the need to ensure rule of law and disarmament of the militia that might cause harm on people and properties were the major objectives of the operation beyond bringing the criminal suspects to justice.

“We are now on our last and sustaining phase of the operation which nearly is to apprehend suspects to justice and second to instate the interim administration which guides and leads to grassroots discussions and make sure the social and economic activities would resume like markets, banks, schools and health facilities soon,” Redwan affirmed.

In many cities, he said, the interim administration has already been constituted. There are only major cities and towns which are yet to be addressed like Mekelle, Axum, Adwa and Adigrat.

Very soon the interim administration will be constituted in these towns and the public grass-root discussion will begin shortly, he added. In other smaller towns, the public has begun discussing.

He pointed out that a contingent team has been already sent to Mekelle, Axum and Adigrat to make sure that telephone and power be reconnected and reconstructed.

Some roads have been damaged, a number of bridges destroyed, he said adding rehabilitating the roads be done in the coming few days and weeks and some may take months to put in place permanent infrastructure.

Regarding to apprehending the criminals Redwan said “The hunt for the suspected criminals is continued as the military and the police force have already announced the hideout is identified. So, the institutions would believe it will be a matter of days or weeks before most of them would be apprehended”.

Redwan has also said the government is providing aid in areas that it liberated and talked about the frustration of some aid agencies and media for restricted access to Tigray.

He highlighted that the media and aid agencies should make parallel their movements with guidelines set by the Federal Government concerning the procedures in Tigray Regional State for safety reasons.

Commissioner Mitku Kassa said the government is running the humanitarian assistance project through forming about 10 cluster arrangements that coordinate government agencies and the non-government ones based on the type of assistance that the people in Tigray need.

“We do have ten clusters including agriculture and livestock, water and sanitation, health, nutrition, food and non-food items, logistics, women and children and education,” he stated.

Given the urgency of the current condition, Mitku said the emergency coordination center is working with the national disaster risk management and preparedness committee.

Highlighting the current commitment of the government, Mitku said “Currently we are able to dispatch non-food and food items to deliver to more than 250,000 people in the region. We deploy around eight coordination team which is drawn from members of the national disaster risk management and preparedness committee to coordinate and facilitate the delivery of the food and non food items to the needy one,” he noted.

According to Disaster Risk Management Commission, 1.8 million beneficiaries would be served with the current arrangement of relief aid delivery that constitutes both food and non-food items.