Johannesburg/Geneva, Aug. 6, (dpa/GNA) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is registering an influx of wounded people into the Ethiopian war-torn region of Tigray and surrounding areas.
For this reason, hospitals are now being given priority support, the committee announced on Friday.
“Many communities have been significantly affected by the ongoing violence, especially in places where it is difficult to receive urgent medical treatment,” said Nicolas Von Arx, the head of the ICRC delegation in Ethiopia.
He appealed to “all those involved in fighting to spare civilians and protect medical facilities and personnel.”
According to the United Nations, 178 trucks that had been held up at various checkpoints have finally reached Tigray’s regional capital Mekelle in the past few days.
Another 40 trucks are on their way, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said in Geneva.
“This war has to stop,” he said. Griffiths also appealed to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to abandon military ambitions in the neighbouring Amhara region.
Only in July, the Red Cross supplied medical equipment to treat 1,100 severely injured people, and a total of 24,000 sick people.
According to the United Nations, the humanitarian situation in the Tigray region is deteriorating rapidly.
In November, the Ethiopian government in Addis Ababa launched a military offensive against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which had held power in the Tigray region.
After years of tension between the TPLF and the central government, the fight turned into a complex conflict in which the neighbouring country Eritrea is also involved.
The conflict has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee and caused great destruction.
GNA