Attachments
Executive summary
Background
Water is the most crucial matter that enabled life to strive on the planet earth; and the very existence and civilization of human beings has always been linked with access to water for domestic supply, agriculture, transport and recreation. Clean and safe drinking water supply is necessary for a healthy and prosperous community and provision of such resources is the responsibility of any functioning government. The UN general assembly, on its resolution 64/292 adopted the resolution “The human right to water and sanitation” in 2010, calling upon states and international organizations to provide all necessary resources in order to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all (UN, 2010). Several conventions also stipulate on the necessity of the protection of civilian water infrastructures during a war.
The two-year-long Tigray war was an all-out war on the people, the economy, infrastructures and the natural resource of the people of Tigray. UNDP (2022) indicated that the poverty level in Tigray increased from 27% to 45% following the war. During the war water infrastructure of Tigray has been deliberately destroyed, its system and personnel dismantled resulting in a return of the sector to pre-1991 status. A damage assessment report of the Tigray Bureau of Water and Energy (TBoWE, 2022) indicated that 71% of non-motorized and 75% of motorized schemes in the region were non-functional by October 2022 due to the war. Similarly, Arefayne et.al (2023) reported that the war in Tigray reduced the rural safe drinking water supply coverage from 61% in 2020 to 28% in 2022 and the urban safe drinking water supply from 57% to 25% in the same period. Since the Pretoria Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) between the FDRE and TPLF, efforts have been made to reconstruct the sector and improvements have been made.
However, considering the level of destruction and the fact that Tigray is still in an unstable post war transitional situation, there is a long way to restore for the sector to its pre-war situation.