‘70% health facilities in Ethiopia’s Tigray destroyed’

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

Only 30% of health institutions in Ethiopia’s restive Tigray region are operational, an international medical NGO said on Monday.

In a statement, Doctors Without Borders said its team of investigators toured 106 sites in the region from December 2020 to March 2021 and found that 70% of health facilities in Tigray had been looted.

“Treatment structures in the Ethiopian region of Tigray were looted, vandalized and destroyed in a deliberate manner,” the statement said, quoting observers on the ground.

Last November, the Ethiopian government launched a massive “law enforcement operation” in northernmost region of Tigray against the now-outlawed Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), whose forces attacked the Northern Command of the Ethiopian federal army stationed in the region.

On Nov. 28, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared the military operations over but sporadic fighting continued.

More than 60,000 Ethiopians fled the fighting to neighboring Sudan while international organizations have been calling for scaled-up humanitarian assistance in the region for civilians affected by the conflict.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have also been displaced in the Horn of Africa country and in dire need of emergency assistance.​​​​​​​