Photograph: Google Satellite
The Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations Council (ECSOC) has urged the conflicting parties to protect the safety of humanitarian workers during their mission to provide critical services in conflict-affected areas throughout Ethiopia.
ECSOC underscored that it has received several reports of attacking humanitarian workers in Amhara, Oromia, and other regions.
“The violent incidents targeting aid workers range from killings, assault and kidnappings, to seizing of vehicles, pillages of warehouses and stores,” reads a press statement.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), on its part, has particularly condemned the killings of a humanitarian worker in the Amhara region.
“The humanitarian Community in Ethiopia mourns the death of Mr. Yared Melese, a humanitarian who was working with the NGO Action for Social Development and Environmental Protection Organization (ASDEPO) and expresses its deepest condolences to the family and colleagues of the deceased,” reads the press statement UNOCHA.
UNOCHA has reiterated that eight humanitarian workers have been killed in Ethiopia just in 2024.
The European Union in Ethiopia has also condemned the killings of humanitarian workers in the country and called authorities to take responsibility.
“Attacks against humanitarians are unacceptable and obstruct life-saving assistance to the Ethiopian people by national and internationals working in the field. Public authorities have a responsibility to ensure security,” EU posted a statement on X- formerly Twitter.
The federal government has been figiting with Fano militias in the Amhara regional state since August 2023 by declaring a state of emergency. The federal government is also fighting with the Oromo Liberation Army(OLA-OLF) in Oromia region.
The bloody war between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the federal government forces, that broke out in November 2020, ended with the so-called Pretoria Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) in November 2022.
The disagreement between the federal government and TPLF has intensified again.
