OCHA Ethiopia prepares this report with the support of Cluster Coordinators. The data/information collected covers the period from 3-9 May 2022. In some cases, access and communication constraints mean that updates for the period are delayed and cannot be reflected. Boundaries, names and designations of districts/zones indicated in the narration in the report do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. Please contact ocha-eth-communication@un.org for any comment or question you may have on this publication. The next issue of the sitrep will be published on 19 May 2022.

The overall situation in northern Ethiopia remained generally calm during the reporting period, but tense and volatile. The lines of contacts along the Amhara and Tigray regional border, Western Tigray and North-Western Tigray remained static with no incidents reported. Nonetheless, several locations in Amhara along the areas bordering Tigray remained hard to reach for partners’ humanitarian operations due to security concerns, including Abergele and Tsagibji kebeles, parts of Zequala kebeles in Wag Hamra Zone, large sections of Kobo in North Wello Zone, and in Addi Arekay in the North Gondar Zone. In Afar, clashes were reported in some areas in Zone 2 namely in Koneba, Berhale and Abala Woredas, affecting humanitarian operations and access to these areas. The extreme northern parts of Tigray region along the Eritrean border including Rama, Erob and Zala Anbessa continue to be inaccessible to humanitarian partners.

Humanitarian partners were able move additional aid supplies into Tigray via the Semera-Abala-Mekelle road during the reporting period. On 4 May, 16 trucks carrying about 589 metric tons (MT) of food and non-food items arrived in Mekelle. On 7 May, a convoy of 62 trucks carrying about 2,141 MT of food, shelter, water, sanitation, and hygiene items as well as protection and education items also arrived at Mekelle. In total, 250 trucks arrived in Mekelle through six humanitarian convoys since the resumption of the convoy movement on 1 April following, following an interruption of more than three months. While the arrival of humanitarian supplies is positive, it is still not enough to meet the growing humanitarian needs in the region. Around 6,400 MT of food, for instance, has been brought into Tigray by the main food partners. At least 4,675 MT of food commodities or 115 trucks, equivalent to a common food basket for around 276,000 people are required to move into Tigray every day to complete the current food distribution cycle by end of May. Meanwhile, the food that has arrived in Mekelle has been dispatched to prioritized Woredas and distribution is ongoing.

The 250 trucks arrived Mekelle included nine fuel trucks or roughly 400,000 liters, of which 18 per cent is used for the returning trucks, and the remaining used to dispatch the aid supplies to priority areas in Tigray. The last three convoys did not include any fuel. It is estimated that 200,000 liters of fuel are required per week for humanitarian operations in the region.

The continuing suspension of basic essential services, including banking, electricity, and communications is also compounding the constraints faced by humanitarian organizations to reach people in need. Nutrition partners, for instance, reported the lack of nutrition and food items to carry out the school feeding programs where an estimated 345,000 school children across the region need school meals. Eighty schools have reportedly closed in 32 Woredas and a further 641 schools are at risk of closure due lack of school feeding programs, security issues and extreme food shortages faced by teachers. It is estimated that more than 46,000 teachers across the region require immediate life-saving multi-purpose cash and food assistance to keep schools open.

Also in Amhara, the regional government authorities continued with the relocation of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kobo and Sekota, although at a slower pace. To date, and since 14 March, they have relocated more than 20,000 people out of an estimated 58,000 registered IDPs planned for relocation from Kobo in North Wollo Zone to Jara, near Weldiya, the zonal capital. In Wag Hamra, more than 4,000 IDPs have been relocated to Weleh IDP site so far, out of an estimated 12,000 IDPs in the zone planned for relocation to the site. 

In Afar, the humanitarian situation continued to be dire with a high number of IDPs in need of support while the response and available resources are still insufficient to meet the amounting needs in the region.

The humanitarian response operations in northern Ethiopia remain constrained by security concerns and administrative measures such as the inability to bring sufficient supplies, fuel, and cash to Tigray, limited access to people in hard-to-reach areas across northern Ethiopia, and limited presence of partners on the ground in some areas, including parts in Afar and Amhara and Western Zone in Tigray. Also, the current response is not meeting the increasing needs of those in need as the resources available are not matching the requirements.

After almost seven months since the start of Round 3 of food distribution in Tigray in mid-October 2021, partners have managed to assist around 1.5 million people, only 24 per cent of the total planned caseload. As each round, which is supposedly a six-week cycle, has stretched over months, it is estimated that on average, the distributed rations covered significantly less than the minimum caloric needs of the people assisted. The food cluster is working to improve coordination with smaller-scale, targeted food responses by local or non-traditional partners as well as one-off assistance by international partners to fill the gaps while the main food partners’ abilities to respond at scale as part of their activities is hindered by supply shortage. For instance, some partners have revised their initially planned cash assistance and brought supplies into Tigray for in-kind food distribution instead.

Between 28 April and 04 May, only slightly over 84,000 people were assisted with food in Adigrat, Mekelle, Sheraro and Tahtay Adiyabo towns. Due to stock shortage, around 33,000 people in Mekelle and Adigrat received one food commodity only (15 KG of wheat).

Twelve health partners provided healthcare services to affected people in 23 Woredas, out of the 88 Woredas, in five zones during the reporting week in Tigray. Only about 20,000 people, were reached with different health services including more than 8,500 people with outpatient consultations due to operational constrains including lack of fuel and heath supplies. It is estimated that 3.9 million people in Tigray need health care services and interventions.

In Amhara, between 2-8 May, food partners (INGOs) assisted nearly 6,000 people with food in Abergele woreda in Wag Hamra under round 4 distribution cycle. They also assisted assisted more than 96,000 people in North Wollo zone as part of 2022 bridging round distributions. In total, and as part of 2022’s round 1 distributions started on 10 March, more than 826,000 people have been assisted as of 9 May. Under round 5 distribution cycle started on 22 December 2021, and as of 9 May, food partners (Government, UN and INGOs) reached more than 10.4 million people with food support under. In addition, more than 80,000 pre-primary and primary school children, including more than 40,000 girls, were reached with school feeding services in the region during the reporting period.

Also in Amhara, more than 168,000 IDPs were reached with water trucking while more than 200,000, people reached through improving and rehabilitating water schemes.

In Jara IDP relocation site in Amhara, 35 communal shelters have been constructed since mid-March accommodating 172 families while considerable improvements have been achieved with the completion of non-food items distribution addressing 90 per cent of the needs of the 20,000 relocated people. Additional land is cleared to allow for the construction of additional shelters on the site. In Wag Hamra, only 120 shelters were constructed out of the required 256 shelters to date.

In Afar, between 2 and 8 May, WFP assisted more than 38,500 people with food in in Gulina, Teru, Yalo, Berahle and Dalol Woredas. Cumulatively, as of 9 May, food partners (the Government and the UN) have reached more than 834,000 people with food under this round since last week of February. Also in Afar, nearly 950 children aged 8-14, including 365 girls, attended alternative learning programs in 9 schools at Dubti Woreda. Education access was created for additional about 570 children, including 255 girls, in four centers at Awash Fentale Woreda.

About 90,000 people in Afar have been reached with water trucking through 23 trucks operating at IDP sites and Woredas with water shortage.

The cumulative funding gap for both the 2021 Mid-Year Review of the Humanitarian Response Plan and the 2021 revised Northern Ethiopia Response Plan stands at more than US$1.1 billion. An estimated $619 million has been mobilized towards the Northern Ethiopia Response Plan, and $656 million for response towards the Mid-Year Review Humanitarian Response Plan. However, this is far from sufficient to cover the humanitarian needs.

At the start of 2022, the Ethiopian Humanitarian Fund (EHF) carried over a balance of US$ 6.7 million, after committing $24.3 million for the second 2021 standard allocation. A total of $8 million received in confirmed contributions from the governments of Canada, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. An additional $6.4 million is  in the pipeline from the government of Sweden for 2022 programming. These will increase the EHF estimated fund balance to $21.1 million. The continued support from donors demonstrates efforts to mobilize resources to enable humanitarian partners delivering assistance to conflict and natural disasters-affected people.