Ethiopia has established an emergency centre in northern Tigray regional state to address the humanitarian needs of 2.5 million people, an Ethiopian official said on Thursday.
Mitiku Kassa, Commissioner at Ethiopia National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC), said the centre in the regional capital Mekelle will have personnel from Ethiopia government ministries, Tigray interim administration bureaus, United Nations agencies, bilateral partners and International non-governmental organizations to help it effectively coordinate humanitarian aid supplies in Tigray region.
Kassa also said the NDRMC plans to establish incident command posts in two other Tigray regional cities, Shire-Indaselassie and Adigrat, to ensure the proper use of humanitarian aid.
Mysterious wheat deals complicate hunger fight in Ethiopia
Samuel Gebre, Agnieszka de Sousa and Simon Marks, Bloomberg
Jan. 17, 2021
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Soft red winter wheat is unloaded from a grain cart during harvest in Kirkland, Ill., on July 17, 2020.Bloomberg photo by Daniel Acker.
Back in November, Ethiopia unveiled two deals to buy deeply discounted wheat from suppliers that seasoned traders had never heard of. A website named for one of the companies listed a German address that didn t exist and appeared to use stock photos of models.
Two months on, it remains a mystery who was behind the deals or what their motivation was, especially as Ethiopia says it hasn t lost any money. One thing is clear though: no wheat has been delivered. The government has now canceled the tenders and plans to start over.
Over 2 million people displaced by conflict in Ethiopia s Tigray region - local official reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Wednesday, 6 January, 2021 - 18:30
Ethiopians, who fled the ongoing fighting in Tigray region, carry their belongings after crossing the Setit River on the Sudan-Ethiopia border, in the eastern Kassala state, Sudan December 16, 2020. (Reuters) Asharq Al-Awsat
About 2.2 million people have been displaced within Ethiopia’s Tigray region since fighting erupted there in November with about half fleeing after their homes were burned down, a local government official said.
Gebremeskel Kassa, a senior official in the interim administration in Tigray appointed by the federal government, made the comments in an interview broadcast by state-run ETV’s Tigriniya language channel late on Tuesday.
The figure given by the official was more than double a previous estimate for the number of people displaced of 950,000, which included 50,000 who had fled to neighboring countries.