Caritas Internationalis joins the appeal of His Eminence Cardinal Berhaneyesus, Rev. Kes Yonas, Patriarch Abune Mathias, and Rev. Bishop Tesfaselassie Medhin in urging US Agency for International Development (USAID) and World Food Programme (WFP) to resume life-saving food distribution immediately. The food aid was suspended on the 30th of March 2023 in the Tigray region after “widespread and systemic” diversion of large amounts of food meant for hungry people was discovered. The pause was extended to the entire Ethiopian territory in early June.
“For three months, millions of people in need of vital assistance have been deprived of food, drastically reducing the health and security of those already suffering from severe trauma and deprivation following a two-year war and prolonged drought,” stresses Caritas Internationalis’ Secretary General, Alistair Dutton.
Even if other vital assistance, including nutrition programs for women and children, safe drinking water and support for agricultural activities and development, is continuing, the suspension of food distributions is threatening lives even further, especially for the people who are elderly or in poor health, children and IDPs.
“People are starving to death. In recent weeks, hunger has killed hundreds of people in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region as result of food shortage. This is neither humane nor moral,” continues Dutton. Theft and corruption in food aid must not be tolerated, and the people responsible should be brought to account. A thorough investigation must take place, and robust and transparent accountability mechanisms must be put in place to prevent future diversion. “But innocent people cannot be the ones that suffer in the meantime,” adds the Secretary General Caritas Confederation, stating that humanitarian imperative dictates that the primary concern needs to be the millions of hungry people in Ethiopia who depend on principled humanitarian assistance, and they must not be made to pay for the egregious abuses committed by others.
Caritas echoes the appeals of several Ethiopian religious leaders. In a joint letter addressed to the Government of Ethiopia, USAID and the WFP, Cardinal Berhaneyesus (President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia) and Rev. Kes Yonas (President of the Mekaneyesus Evangelical Church of Ethiopia) say that further delays in the delivery of food support would only lead to further catastrophe for those in need. Abune Mathias, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, also stresses how suspending this vital support is resulting in severe suffering of people due to hunger. The Catholic Bishop of Adigrat, Tesfaselassie Medhin, said the deaths of hundreds of people due to starvation cannot be the price to pay to fix the system.
Therefore, Caritas joins the Ethiopian religious leaders’ plea to USAID and WFP to immediately resume food aid distributions to avoid the predictable devastating consequences for those who have the right to receive aid.
“While USAID and WFP announced that food assistance will only be resumed when strong monitoring measures are in place, people cannot wait. Vital aid must reach all those in need now. Every single day counts,” says Dutton.