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Hospitals and health facilities in the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region are struggling to care for people injured in a conflict that lasted for weeks as medical supplies are dangerously depleted, an aid group warned.
In a rare report from the interior of the northern city of Mekelle on Sunday, the day after Ethiopia declared victory in its operation against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC ) said that around 80 percent of the patients at Ayder Referral Hospital have trauma injuries.
“The influx of wounded forced the hospital to suspend many other medical services so that limited staff and resources could be dedicated to emergency medical care,” the ICRC said, adding that the main regional hospital did not have body bags.
The ICRC warned that food was also running out, as a result of the Tigray region being cut off from foreign aid for almost a month. The group said 1,000 Eritrean refugees have come to Mekelle from their refugee camps near the border with Eritrea, seeking food and other aid.
“The hospital is running dangerously low on stitches, antibiotics, blood thinners, painkillers and even gloves,” said Maria Soledad, ICRC head of operations in Ethiopia, who visited the Ayder referral hospital and is currently in Mekelle.
“The influx of injured comes more than three weeks after supply chains in Mekelle were disrupted. We need to make sure that healthcare workers have the supplies and conditions they need to carry out their life-saving work. “
Ethiopia says it has taken control of the capital of Tigray, while the UN reports that around 500 refugees still cross the border into Sudan on a daily basis. pic.twitter.com/6Qqv4IK8YZ
– English Al Jazeera (@AJEnglish) November 29, 2020
Fighting between Ethiopian federal troops and forces loyal to the TPLF, led by Tigray, has threatened to destabilize Ethiopia and the wider Horn of Africa region. Thousands of people are believed to have died and nearly 44,000 have fled to neighboring Sudan since hostilities began on November 4.
Communications remain almost completely cut off, making it difficult to verify claims made by parties to the conflict, and the United Nations has been unable to access Tigray and provide assistance. Fears are growing about the atrocities that could emerge once transportation and other links are restored.
The government had given the TPLF an ultimatum that expired on Wednesday to surrender or face an assault on the city.
Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared victory in his government’s weeks of fighting against the TPLF on Saturday, without mentioning whether there were casualties in the offensive to capture Mekelle. Human rights groups have been concerned that an assault on the city, home to 500,000 people, could result in large numbers of civilian casualties.
The Ethiopian army said it had “full control” of Mekelle, but TPLF leaders and members continue to flee and have vowed to keep fighting.
Late on Sunday, TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael told Reuters news agency in a text message that his forces had shot down an Ethiopian military plane and captured the pilot. He also said that TPLF fighters had retaken the city of Axum from federal forces. There were no immediate comments from the government or the Ethiopian army.
UN urges access to Tigray region
On Sunday separately, the UN refugee chief said Ethiopia’s announcement that it had completed its military offensive in the region “does not mean the conflict is over.”
Speaking to journalists during an online press conference from the Sudanese capital Khartoum, Filippo Grandi said he was deeply concerned about the fate of nearly 100,000 Eritrean refugees there amid reports that some have been abducted.
If confirmed, such treatment of refugees in camps near Tigray’s border with Eritrea “would be a major violation of international norms,” Grandi said.
“It is a strong appeal to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia to urgently address this situation,” he also said, adding that he hopes the Ethiopian authorities will soon grant humanitarian access to the Tigray region.
When asked about accusations by refugees that Ethiopian security forces have prevented people from fleeing the conflict to Sudan, Grandi said his team had not raised that issue with the Ethiopian government. But the refugees told him about the “many checkpoints” and pockets of insecurity they faced while fleeing.
“We have not heard of any systematic shutdowns,” the UN official said. “But there are certainly growing difficulties.”
Most people traveled with nothing, Grandi said, and many are farmers who were forced to flee at harvest time, creating a “very difficult situation for them.”
‘We don’t want to go back’
Neighboring Eritrea, which watchdogs call one of the most repressive countries in the world, has remained almost silent on accusations by Tigray’s regional leaders that it has been involved in the conflict at the invitation of Ethiopia, whose government has been involved. denied.
Even before declaring victory in the conflict, the Abiy government urged the refugees to return and promised to protect them. But many of the refugees have said they were fleeing deadly violence from Ethiopian forces and attacks from nearby Eritrea.
“Of course, I am not encouraging people to return,” Grandi said, adding that the refugees told her they fear possible retaliation and violence between communities and need guarantees of safety before they can return home.
The UN refugee agency is requesting nearly $ 150 million in aid over the next six months to support up to 100,000 refugees.
A refugee who spoke to Al Jazeera in the Um Rukaba camp in Sudan said that despite news that the fighting had ended in the Tigray region, he did not want to live under the Abiy government again.
“We don’t want to go back, because we saw the Abiy Ahmed administration. He kills us, Tigrinya speakers with the help of the Eritrean government, ”said Bereket Gebremichael, referring to the official local language spoken in the Tigray region.
“We don’t want to be killed, so we don’t want to go back until Abiy Ahmed delivers the people” from the Tigray region, he added.
The government has denied targeting or discriminating against ethnic Tigrayans, insisting that its operations were directed “primarily at the disgruntled, reactionary and rebellious members of the TPLF clique.”
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