TUESDAY: 31st August 2021 The Minister of Education, Ethiopia has revealed that not less than 7,000 schools have been damaged as a result of the expanding conflict in Ethiopia, leaving about 1.42 million students unable to attend classes in the war-torn region of Tigray.
Northern Ethiopia has been plagued by violence ever since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray to topple the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the regional ruling party in November, saying the move came in response to attacks on army camps.
The 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner who promised a swift victory failed to keep to his words as the war has dragged on for months, triggering a humanitarian crisis in Tigray, while the rebels have pushed into the neighbouring regions, Afar and Amhara.
The Education Minister, Getahun Mekuria via his official Twitter account on Monday, said
“As a result of #TPLF futile war in northern #Ethiopia in Tigray, Afar and Amhara regions, more than 7,000 schools have been fully (some partially) damaged,”
“More than 1.42M students have been out of school already (in #Tigray) or will be out of school (in Afar, Amhara),” he added, referring to the development as “very sad”.
There was no immediate response from the TPLF to the claims, which could not be independently verified.
As the conflict has worsened, the humanitarian toll has cascaded, with aid workers striving to reach cut-off populations and 400,000 people facing famine-like conditions in Tigray, according to the UN.
According to the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA last Thursday, the flow of aid to Tigray have virtually stopped since August 20 as trucks have been unable to enter the region.
“Stocks of food assistance are depleted, and new distributions of food have stopped, other than in areas where supplies were already dispatched and en route,” OCHA said in a briefing note.
Since the eruption of the conflict, Abiy’s government and the Tigrayan rebels have traded blame over the issue, with each party accusing the other of obstructing aid convoys and driving a desperate population into famine.
In early August, US aid chief, Samantha Power accused Ethiopia of blocking humanitarian access to the region, a claim which Abiy’s spokeswoman denied.
More than 5.2 million people require food supplies in Tigray and over 300,000 people are estimated to be displaced in Afar and Amhara according to OCHA.
