Ethiopia: Humanitarian Access Situation Report, August – September 2019

This report is produced by OCHA Ethiopia in collaboration with humanitarian partners. It covers the period August - September 2019. The next report will be issued in December 2019.

OVERVIEW

• The humanitarian community remains concerned over the high risk that localized conflict poses to the safety of aid workers. The 5 September attack against an INGO vehicle in Gambela, where two aid workers were killed, is the first deliberate attack against a humanitarian partner in Ethiopia in recent times.

• Localized clashes in western and southern Oromia continue to limit access to population in need and the quality of the response. The situation in Guji zone has significantly deteriorated in 2019, limiting assistance to IDPs.

• Renewed violence in Amhara in the end of September, displaced an estimated additional 15,000 people, tensions remain high in the area while authorities and partners are mobilizing to respond.

• Assistance is still not reaching the persons most in need, in particular IDPs who did not return to areas of origin and remain displaced. Partners report lack of access to an estimated 40,000 IDPs in Gedeo (SNNPR), 20,000 in Wellegas (Oromia), and 17,000 in Awi zone (Amhara).

• In some areas IDPs are being coerced to return through denial of assistance, with aid made conditional to returns, in violation of the principles of voluntary, safe and dignified return. Assistance to IDPs in Awi zone is compromised by the dismantling of sites and ending food aid.

• Insufficient food assistance to the affected population was reported in multiple locations, e.g.
Hararges, Wellegas and southern Oromia, Benishangul Gumuz. This is prompting an increase in malnutrition rates and pushing IDPs to resort to extreme copying mechanisms.

• There remain significant gaps in the provision of basic services in areas of IDP returns, compromising their sustainability. In Kamashi (BGR), access to health, WASH, and education services are highly constrained.

• The rainy season has hampered operations in multiple locations across the country, including in areas with large number of IDPs such as southern Somali region. Meanwhile, access to thousands of people in Afar region has been affected by floods.