Addis Ababa, August 2, 2022 (FBC) – Alastair Thompson, a journalist, communication specialist and geopolitical analyst recounted the dire humanitarian situation inflicted by the TPLF aggression in Amhara and Afar Regions.
In an exclusive interview with FBC, Alastair Thompson said that he came to Ethiopia in April and stayed until June. For eight weeks. “I visited war ravaged areas in Gondar and other parts of Amhara region, and several affected areas in Afar region,” he said.
He said that he had travelled to the frontlines in both Amhara and Afar regions.
“So I went to areas quite close to the border with Tigray in Wolkait and Abala in Afar. And in Afar I saw the humanitarian situation, which was extremely dire. I also saw the convoys that were going into Mekelle and at that stage in late May,” he recalled his memories.
“So at that stage, the convoys into Tigray were growing and getting larger and larger. And when I drove up to Abala I saw a convoy that was headed up, I think it was about 108 trucks.”
Since then, they have expanded to around 300 trucks. I visited an IDP camp in Afar at Dubti, which was not an official IDP camp because it hadn’t been approved by the National Emergency Management Organization and nowhere had been approved by the UN agencies.
So as a result of that, it was in pretty bad shape. There was a sort of stagnant water supply all around the camp. The residents of the camp were getting 25 Liters per family per day of water, which wasn’t nearly enough. The doctors nearby at the Dubti hospital were very concerned about a measles outbreak and there were large numbers of children dying. There were two or three children dying every day.
But the humanitarian situation in Afar is pretty dreadful. And there’s large numbers at that stage and there were large numbers of convoys carrying vast amounts of aid material into Tigray.
Invading the two regions, TPLF displaced more than a million people in the two regions and put residents in a catastrophic situation, he said.
We are currently seeing similar aggression by the TPLF which avoided the peace process and re-opened war on the country. The TPLF Group invaded Wollo, which is located in the south of Tigray, and committed similar atrocities on civilians, Alastari Thompso said.
In Kobo and the surroundings the TPLF shelled towns on the 24th August and killed a number of innocent people there on the day it started the war, he added.
TPLF is the cause of all sort of the conflict and consequent humanitarian situation however it is playing victim, he said, adding that the group’s renewed attacks on civilians in neighboring regions corroborate its increasing belligerence.