December 13, the Prime Minister of the Transitional Government of the Sudan, Abdullah Hamduk, arrived in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, to hold talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abi on the recent Tigray conflict.
According to Al Jazeera, Hamduk said that the two sides agreed to convene an emergency meeting of East African countries to resolve the crisis in Tigray, Ethiopia.
Hamduk was the first foreign leader to visit Addis Ababa since the outbreak of conflict in the Tigray area in early November. Two weeks ago, Abi had announced the victory of the Ethiopian government army in the battle with local armed forces in Tigray.
However, the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict is still continuing. So far, thousands of people have died and about 50,000 Ethiopians have fled from Tigray State to neighboring Sudan.
The Voice of America reported that Hamduk’s visit was originally scheduled for two days, but he returned to Sudan a few hours after arriving in Addis Ababa. It is not clear why the journey was shortened.
December 12, coordinated by the Ethiopian authorities, a convoy carrying medicine and relief supplies provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Ethiopian Red Cross arrived in Merklai, the capital of Tigray.
This is the first international aid Merclay received more than a month after the outbreak of the Tigray conflict.
The first international aid to Merclay since the outbreak of the Tigray state conflict.
“For weeks, hospitals have not been able to obtain new supplies and are in the face of water and power cuts. Healthcare workers are forced to make a dilemma: what services to continue to provide and what services to stop.
Patrick Yousuf, director of the International Committee of the Red Cross Africa, said after a visit to Addis Ababa, “The medical supplies delivered this time can replenish the inventory, help patients, so that medical personnel do not have to make very difficult and life-and-death choices from time to time when triage.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross donated seven trucks of medical and living supplies to Ayedler Hospital in Merkle, the Regional Health Bureau and the Ethiopian Red Cross Pharmacy, and worked to provide water and fuel for generators to the hospital.
Meanwhile, the working group of the International Committee of the Red Cross is distributing relief supplies to displaced families in northern Amhara and western Tigray and assessing the humanitarian needs caused by the fighting.
NPR reported, citing the United Nations, that refugees in the Tigray area received no assistance after the conflict began. According to the United Nations, more than 96,000 Eritrean refugees who took refuge in Tigray State have no food, and some have left the camp due to the intensification of violence.
Since the outbreak of the conflict in early November, more than 43,000 refugees have entered neighboring Sudan from Ethiopia for protection and asylum. Before this refugee flow, Sudan had hosted nearly 1 million refugees, mainly from South Sudan.
According to the official website of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the total budget of the organization in Ethiopia is 27 million Swiss francs (about $30.1 million), and there are still 10 million Swiss francs that have not been implemented.
