Ethiopia - Tigray Region Humanitarian Update Situation Report, 28 December 2020

HIGHLIGHTS

• Localized fighting and insecurity reportedly continues in Tigray region while arrests of leadership of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) are ongoing.
• The Southern Tigray mission has concluded as planned, without any incident. The assessment report is currently being compiled.
• Clusters are reporting current and planned activities in Tigray, Amhara and Afar Regions.
• Resource mobilization to scale up preparedness and response is ongoing as per the updated Humanitarian Response Plan for northern Ethiopia.
• The Sudanese Government and humanitarian partners are scaling up life-saving assistance to the 53,302 refugees, as of 23 December.

KEY FIGURES

950,000 People in need of aid before the conflict

1.3M Projected additional people to need aid

53,300 Refugees in Sudan since 7 November

$63.4M Needed for Preparedness Plan

FUNDING (2020)

$1.3B Required

$696M Received

56% Progress

SITUATION OVERVIEW

The federal Government military operation in Tigray Region that started on 4 November was officially declared over by the Government on 28 November after capturing the capital city, Mekelle. However, arrests of the leadership of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) are ongoing. As a result, localized fighting and insecurity reportedly continues, with fighting reported in Enda Baguna (south of Shire), Korem and Mahbere Tsige (west of Mekelle) last week.

Updates from the two assessment missions in Tigray that deployed on 20 December indicate that the Southern Tigray mission has concluded as planned, without any incident. The assessment report is currently being compiled. Preliminary findings from Chirchir district in Alamata revealed that half of the displaced people have returned to their homes. Life in Alamata is gradually returning to normalcy with the resumption of some basic services, including electricity and telecommunication. People however reported that they still do not feel safe.

Meanwhile, led by the Incident Command Post team (the Ministry of Peace, National Disaster Risk Management Commission, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Water and the Ministry of Women and Children), the Western Tigray mission conducted a rapid assessment in Dansha on 22 December. The team travelled on to Humera but received additional requests for permission papers from local authorities. After fulfilling the additional requirements, with the help of the Ministry of Peace, the team proceeded to Humera on 28 December and will go onwards to assess the situation in Shiraro and Shire.

OCHA has put in place an information sharing/clearance mechanism that involves the Logistics Cluster, NDRMC and the Ministry of Peace (MoP) to ensure safe and secure access to Tigray and bordering areas in Amhara and Afar Regions. As of 28 December, 22 requests were submitted (10 for assessment/response missions and 12 for cargo), of which 10 were given clearance to proceed (four assessment/response missions and seven cargo, while two were cancelled). Of the three assessment missions granted clearance, one is completed, one is ongoing and one is pending. Similarly, of the seven cargo requests cleared, only two have reached Tigray. Discussions are ongoing discussion with NDRMC and MoP to further streamline the clearance process and make it faster.

Clusters are reporting current and planned activities in Tigray as well as in affected areas in neighboring Amhara and Afar Regions (see full detail under the Humanitarian Operational Response section below). Resource mobilization to scale up response is ongoing as per the updated Humanitarian Response Plan for northern Ethiopia released last week. The Plan targets 2.3 million people estimated to be needing humanitarian assistance as a result of the conflict, in Tigray, Amhara and Afar (50.4 per cent children, 26 per cent women and 17.6 per cent disabled).