Drought and Conflict killing children in Ethiopia

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As conflict in northern Ethiopia spreads into the Afar region amid lingering drought, some residents are appealing for help, saying they have nothing to eat and that their children are dying. Reporter Henry Wilkins spoke to locals in the town of Erebti and to aid workers who say the Afar regional administration should declare drought as a crisis to get needed assistance.

Aysha Mohammed lives by the side of the road in a makeshift camp on the edge of Erebti in northern Ethiopia’s Afar region. She says members of her family have died of hunger.

Mohammed says there is not enough food and drink, and they do not have enough clothes or blankets, adding, "We expect God first and then the government to help us.”

In November of 2020, the federal government went to war against rebels of the former ruling group, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, in the northern Tigray region. The conflict weakened federal forces and contributed to the ongoing instability in the country. Mohammed is one of more than 5 million people displaced by the conflict.

The conflict disrupted humanitarian aid convoys to Tigray, which borders Afar. There have been concerns that aid destined for Tigray has been stuck in Afar.