Ethiopia's Marvelous Jobs for Unfettered Humanitarian Access Requires Adequate Support: Disaster Risk Commissioner

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Addis Ababa (ENA) December 7/2022 Ethiopia’s ongoing marvelous jobs for unfettered humanitarian access and its rehabilitation endeavors in the war-affected regions should receive adequate support from the international actors, Disaster Risk Management Commissioner Shiferaw Teklemariam told ENA.

The commissioner said the federal government and partner organizations have succeeded in managing 95 percent of the total demand for humanitarian access in the three conflict-affected regions during the past 30 days.

Recall that a full comprehensive humanitarian support has been initiated by the Ethiopia government and partners in line with the AU-led peace agreement reached between the federal government and the TPLF in Pretoria, South Africa.

Shiferaw called the achievement “a marvelous one. I should say that we have succeeded to reach out the beneficiaries in Tigray, Amhara and Afar regional states.”

The coverage, as we have demonstrated through numbers, is 95 percent and this means we will be concluding the first-round distribution of aid; and we will subsequently proceed to the second and third rounds, he stated.

According to him, close to 140,000 metric tons of cereals and nutritious food has been distributed to 7.9 million people in the three war-affected regional states.

Because of these efforts the government has been playing leading role in terms of unfettered humanitarian access.

Noting the intervention made to reach out the wider public, the commissioner stated that huge efforts were undertaken by the Government of Ethiopia by organizing several coordination mechanisms.

The coordination mechanisms include all peace building processes and also the recovery, rehabilitation as well as the reconstruction efforts.

To this effect, several committees have been established for resource mobilization and to revitalize basic and public services, in addition to creating unfettered humanitarian access.

Most importantly, the government has enabled all partners to make sure that the humanitarian services are being delivered smoothly at the specific community outreach areas through land and air routes, the commissioner noted.

Thus, Shiferaw said that Ethiopia’s partners, international donors and actors, which would like to see the peace agreement flourish, should encourage the efforts of the government, especially in humanitarian and rehabilitation spheres.

The commissioner called for adequate resource mobilization as the demand is huge for humanitarian supplies, rehabilitation works, and public service revitalization efforts.

“We need to bring all hands, efforts and resources together for that purpose in such a way as to address the immediate needs as well as long term demands.... What this means is we need serious resource input and injection. And I am sure our partners, including international actors and donors, will bring their hands, opinions and resources together in such a way that we will be out of this shock and be on a sustainable development path as well.”

However, he pointed out that there are people/forces which still do not see the positive development and are trying to undermine the success stories of the Ethiopian government.

“It is very much unfortunate that such views do not help anyone. They don’t really help the people. They don’t help the government and anyone else. The agreement reached between the federal government and TPLF is an agreement in which Ethiopians and Ethiopia won.”

Shiferaw stressed that it is not like someone else is a sole winner and other a loser. “This is an effort to rescue our own people and citizens wherever they are.”

Ethiopian News Agency
2023