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Ethiopia – Tigray Conflict Fact Sheet #11 Fiscal Year (FY) 2021

Countries
Ethiopia
+ 2 more
Sources
USAID
Publication date

SITUATION AT A GLANCE

6 MILLION Estimated Population of Tigray GoE – 2017

5.2 MILLION People in Tigray Requiring Humanitarian Assistance UN – May 2021

2.1 MILLION People Displaced by the Crisis Within Tigray IOM – August 2021

48,500 Refugees from Tigray Arriving in Eastern Sudan Since November UNHCR – September 2021

  • Following the expansion of hostilities from Ethiopia’s Tigray Region to neighboring Afar and Amhara regions, humanitarian needs across northern Ethiopia continue to increase rapidly.

  • Less than 10 percent of the number of trucks of humanitarian cargo needed to sustain life-saving relief operations have arrived in Tigray since July, as medicines and fuel are blocked from entering the region and cash needed to sustain the response is heavily restricted, the UN reports.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

Crisis, Insecurity Expand to Afar and Amhara; USAID Scales Up Assistance

Almost 11 months since the outbreak of hostilities in Tigray, the expansion of conflict into neighboring Afar and Amhara has increased displacement and diminished food security and livelihood opportunities for conflict-affected populations in the two regions.

The humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate in Amhara due to the ongoing conflict between Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)- and Ethiopia National Defense Forces (ENDF)-aligned elements in areas near the Tigray regional border. While needs assessments were still ongoing amid active conflict, at least 290,000 people were displaced as of late August, due to the recent conflict along the Amhara–Tigray border, according to Amhara regional authorities. Moreover, more than 140,000 people were displaced from seven woredas, or districts, in Afar from late June through late August, Afar regional authorities report.

Despite challenges, including a limited presence of humanitarian partners prior to the conflict, limited or no access to areas due to insecurity, and lack of resources, humanitarian actors—including USG partners—continue to scale-up response efforts and support response activities led by regional authorities in Afar and Amhara. In Amhara, USAID/BHA humanitarian partners are providing multisector assistance, including emergency food, health, nutrition, and protection support, across conflictaffected areas of the region. Furthermore, in mid-September, the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) staff traveled to Amhara with a high-level delegation of humanitarian representatives to support the reactivation of the regional Emergency Coordination Center, which is intended to strengthen the humanitarian response to internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other conflict-affected populations in Amhara.