Ethiopia Tigray Aid Convoy USAGM
Metadata
- Ethiopia Tigray Aid Convoy USAGM
- May 19, 2022
- Content Type Package
- Language English
- Transcript/Script English USAGM SHARE ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: ETHIOPIA TIGRAY AID CONVOY HEADLINE: Largest Aid Convoy Since Truce Arrives in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region TEASER: PUBLISHED AT: 5/19/22 at 1:15pm BYLINE: Linda Givetash, Michele Spatari DATELINE: SEMERA, ETHIOPIA VIDEOGRAPHER: Michele Spatari VIDEO EDITOR: SCRIPT EDITORS: Steve Hirsch, Salem Solomon, DLJ VIDEO SOURCE (S): Original PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __ TRT: 3:47 VID APPROVED BY: MAS TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES: There is a radio story accompanying this piece.)) ((INTRO)) [[The largest aid convoy to reach Ethiopia’s conflict-ridden Tigray region since the declaration of a truce in March arrived this week. While the effort marked progress for aid organizations scrambling to respond to the region’s humanitarian crisis, resources are spread thin as neighboring regions also require aid due to the conflict and severe drought. Linda Givetash reports from Semera, Ethiopia.]] ((NARRATOR)) Fifteen thousand metric tons of food and other lifesaving supplies have made it to Ethiopia’s Tigray region as of this week, and more is on the way, according to the U.N. World Food Program. Although critical supplies were still getting in via air, the region was cut off by road from humanitarian assistance for more than three months because of the war between Ethiopia’s federal government and the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The conflict has left 4.8 million people facing hunger, the U.N. says. ((Adrian van der Knaap, World Food Program Ethiopia Deputy Director, (English, 17 sec))) “We hope by the end of this month — because the momentum is really picking up now — we hope to be able to have done the 30,000 metric tons of food and food commodities into Tigray, in two weeks’ time. … Our plan is by the end of June to have 100,000 tons of food.” ((NARRATOR)) The humanitarian corridor between the capital of the Afar region, Semera, and Tigray’s capital of Mekelle was established at the beginning of April. It’s currently the only road open to Tigray. Many of Afar’s central and northern towns were attacked by the TPLF, say people displaced by the conflict. The attacks have displaced more than half of the region’s 2 million people. The TPLF said in an April statement that its presence in Afar was meant to neutralize security threats. In January, it said Afar forces had also launched incursions into Tigray and were blocking humanitarian aid from entering the region. But Afar’s head of disaster prevention says Afar holds no ill will toward Tigrayan civilians. ((Mohamed Hussein, Head of Afar’s Disaster Prevention and Food Security Office (English, 21 sec)) “This is a very unique humanity because they are sending troops to kill us here, but we are sending food [to] them to eat there. “The war already launched by the TPLF, and the TPLF — the invasion has happened by this agent, but we are not at a critical problem with Tigrayan people.” ((NARRATOR)) The current cooperation has been critical to addressing rising malnutrition in Tigray, where more than 80% of households faced food insecurity last December. The TPLF said in February that without access to treatment, 23,000 children with severe malnutrition were at risk of death. But government agencies and aid organizations say they are being stretched thin juggling crises in neighboring regions, including Afar. ((Sied Mohammed, Afar Field Office Manager for Save the Children (English, 21 sec))) “There is a double burden for on the community. The first one is the current conflict which disrupted or destructed many water facilities as well as other basic facilities…. On top of this, drought is also another challenge. Even for Afar, for the last many years Afar is within the drought, we can say, so, the drought is also another challenge even for the community.” ((NARRATOR)) Other crises globally, such as the war in Ukraine, are stretching donors’ resources. The WFP says it’s facing a $522 million shortfall for its supplies in Ethiopia in the next six months — $220 million of which affects the northern regions, including Tigray. ((Adrian van der Knaap, World Food Program Ethiopia Deputy Director, (English, 13 sec))) (“We are running out of resources very fast. So, our nightmare is that we have created that positive environment, we’re using those corridors that are open ... (16:46) but we have to stop. So, everything goes back to where it was before April.” ((NARRATOR)) Aid workers say they’re not slowing down. An even larger convoy than the one that arrived Monday is already on the road to Tigray, the WFP said, with many more reaching other communities in the country to curtail the growing hunger. ((Linda Givetash, for VOA News, Semera, Ethiopia.))
- Transcript/Script USAGM SHARE ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: ETHIOPIA TIGRAY AID CONVOY HEADLINE: Largest Aid Convoy Since Truce Arrives in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region TEASER: PUBLISHED AT: 5/19/22 at 1:15pm BYLINE: Linda Givetash, Michele Spatari DATELINE: SEMERA, ETHIOPIA VIDEOGRAPHER: Michele Spatari VIDEO EDITOR: SCRIPT EDITORS: Steve Hirsch, Salem Solomon, DLJ VIDEO SOURCE (S): Original PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __ TRT: 3:47 VID APPROVED BY: MAS TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES: There is a radio story accompanying this piece.)) ((INTRO)) [[The largest aid convoy to reach Ethiopia’s conflict-ridden Tigray region since the declaration of a truce in March arrived this week. While the effort marked progress for aid organizations scrambling to respond to the region’s humanitarian crisis, resources are spread thin as neighboring regions also require aid due to the conflict and severe drought. Linda Givetash reports from Semera, Ethiopia.]] ((NARRATOR)) Fifteen thousand metric tons of food and other lifesaving supplies have made it to Ethiopia’s Tigray region as of this week, and more is on the way, according to the U.N. World Food Program. Although critical supplies were still getting in via air, the region was cut off by road from humanitarian assistance for more than three months because of the war between Ethiopia’s federal government and the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The conflict has left 4.8 million people facing hunger, the U.N. says. ((Adrian van der Knaap, World Food Program Ethiopia Deputy Director, (English, 17 sec))) “We hope by the end of this month — because the momentum is really picking up now — we hope to be able to have done the 30,000 metric tons of food and food commodities into Tigray, in two weeks’ time. … Our plan is by the end of June to have 100,000 tons of food.” ((NARRATOR)) The humanitarian corridor between the capital of the Afar region, Semera, and Tigray’s capital of Mekelle was established at the beginning of April. It’s currently the only road open to Tigray. Many of Afar’s central and northern towns were attacked by the TPLF, say people displaced by the conflict. The attacks have displaced more than half of the region’s 2 million people. The TPLF said in an April statement that its presence in Afar was meant to neutralize security threats. In January, it said Afar forces had also launched incursions into Tigray and were blocking humanitarian aid from entering the region. But Afar’s head of disaster prevention says Afar holds no ill will toward Tigrayan civilians. ((Mohamed Hussein, Head of Afar’s Disaster Prevention and Food Security Office (English, 21 sec)) “This is a very unique humanity because they are sending troops to kill us here, but we are sending food [to] them to eat there. “The war already launched by the TPLF, and the TPLF — the invasion has happened by this agent, but we are not at a critical problem with Tigrayan people.” ((NARRATOR)) The current cooperation has been critical to addressing rising malnutrition in Tigray, where more than 80% of households faced food insecurity last December. The TPLF said in February that without access to treatment, 23,000 children with severe malnutrition were at risk of death. But government agencies and aid organizations say they are being stretched thin juggling crises in neighboring regions, including Afar. ((Sied Mohammed, Afar Field Office Manager for Save the Children (English, 21 sec))) “There is a double burden for on the community. The first one is the current conflict which disrupted or destructed many water facilities as well as other basic facilities…. On top of this, drought is also another challenge. Even for Afar, for the last many years Afar is within the drought, we can say, so, the drought is also another challenge even for the community.” ((NARRATOR)) Other crises globally, such as the war in Ukraine, are stretching donors’ resources. The WFP says it’s facing a $522 million shortfall for its supplies in Ethiopia in the next six months — $220 million of which affects the northern regions, including Tigray. ((Adrian van der Knaap, World Food Program Ethiopia Deputy Director, (English, 13 sec))) (“We are running out of resources very fast. So, our nightmare is that we have created that positive environment, we’re using those corridors that are open ... (16:46) but we have to stop. So, everything goes back to where it was before April.” ((NARRATOR)) Aid workers say they’re not slowing down. An even larger convoy than the one that arrived Monday is already on the road to Tigray, the WFP said, with many more reaching other communities in the country to curtail the growing hunger. ((Linda Givetash, for VOA News, Semera, Ethiopia.))
- NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date May 19, 2022 13:16 EDT
- Byline Linda Givetash
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America