“We only die in silence”: The victory of American aid over the fragile Tigray region in Ethiopia

Micheli, Ethiopia – As a displaced person in the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia, 76 -year -old Haley Tsaj is not strange to hunger.

During her war with Tigray fighters Destroy the area In 2020-2022, the Ethiopian government restrictions on the rebel area reduced aid flows to occur. Then in 2023, the distributions of the United States and the United Nations of grains were suspended for several months over a Corruption scandal.

Now dismantling the Trump administration about The United States Agency for International DevelopmentThe American Agency for International Development has once again suspended food connections to a sprawling camp, which includes more than 20,000 people outside the regional capital of Tijri, Micheli.

“We will die in silence,” said Tsaj, one of the 2.4 million people in Tigray who depend on human grains, most of which were presented by the United States.

Ethiopia was with more than 125 million people, the largest beneficiaries of American aid in sub -Saharan Africa, where they got 1.8 billion dollars in the fiscal year 2023. In addition to life -saving foods, money was spent on HIV drugsVaccines, literacy programs, creating jobs, as well as services for a million refugees hosted by Ethiopia.

Most of these programs have been stopped. The United States Agency for International Development who supervised them was placed on an administrative vacation and asked not to work, because they are facing the end of the termination. The American embassy did not answer the questions.

Emergency food was exempted from President Donald Trump’s executive order, who signed his first day in his post, and suspended external aid during a 90 -day review amid the administration’s allegations of waste.

The relief agencies in Ethiopia were forced to apply to the United States Agency for International Development to obtain exemptions to continue the distribution of American pills. It was secured, but the US International Development Agency payments system is still not working.

As a result, a consortium had a relief agencies in Tigrey to stop distributions for more than a million people, and was responsible for nutrition with grains provided by the United States. He has no money to pay for fuel, trucks and drivers to distribute current food stocks.

This includes 5,000 metric tons of fine corn – enough to feed 300,000 people for a month – stuck in a storage facility in Micheli that can rot before reaching the needy.

“This is just one warehouse.” Tikliini Alava, head of the Tigray Relief Society, said part of the union, there are many others across the region. This will create malnutrition, disease. If this situation continues, what follows?

He added: “Everything is summarized in the payment system.”

The effects of widespread aid discounts, with the end of many contracts for the United States Agency for International Development. Indeed, Ethiopia was forced to dispense with 5,000 local health care workers who were working to respond to HIV.

Tigray relied heavily on American money. More than two years after the war killed hundreds of thousands, the recovery efforts have not started widely. The health system in the region is ruined and hundreds of schools remain closed.

In 2024, the child malnutrition It reached 21 % in some areas, according to a survey reviewed by the Associated Press – much higher than the threshold of the 15 % World Health Organization, where the situation is classified as an emergency.

Now, relief workers say that many programs to improve nutrition have stopped. Projects stopped to provide medicines and vaccines. Dozens of camps for the displaced have cut off water sources.

“The effect was huge,” said Ashinafi Aslash, Executive Director of Mothers. One of them helped build long -term elasticity among farmers. The other helped improve the nutrition of children and new mothers.

Administration for Health, another Tijri organization, has arrested a project to combat tuberculosis, and asked its employees to expect collective workers in March, according to a senior executive director, who occurs provided that his identity is not disclosed for fear of revenge.

Efforts to help thousands of women He was raped during the war Ret Bisho at Aider Hospital, the largest health care facility in Tigray, said that Rawati Baycho was exposed to her path, the largest health care facility in Tigray.

This includes consulting and physiotherapy sessions for the survivors of the United States, which has been heading from the United States, which received an order to stop the Trump administration in February and hit its employees.

CVT has also stopped a program to train health workers to identify sexual assault and referral to appropriate health services.

“This sudden disorder has a major impact on the healing of people with shock,” said Yohannes Fisseha, CVT director.

“The main projects to support people with HIV, improving access to life -saving nutrition services and improving relations between war -affected societies,” said Yirga Gebregziabher, director of the Tigray Branch in an Ethiopian organization called OSSHD, which helped implement projects.

The organization was forced to launch dozens of expert employees.

“Our image of America was a protector of rights, which is a positive force in the world,” said Yigra. “That image has been broken now. If there is an operation, then the shock is less. But there was no advice, no sharing.”

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