UN allocates $40M for humanitarian relief in Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths Monday allocated $25 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support the people affected by conflict and drought in Ethiopia.

A $15 million allocation from the country-based Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund (EHF) was also announced, increasing the total injection of new resources to Ethiopia to $40 million, according to a statement by ReliefWeb, a flagship OCHA media website.

The new funding came amidst intensified fighting in Ethiopia’s north that displaced more than 500,000 people from Amhara and Afar regional states where the TPLF fighters have been making incursions since July.

The combined allocation of funds, according to the statement, would help scale up emergency operations in Ethiopia’s conflict-affected northern regions and support an early response to the drought in southern Ethiopia.

“Millions of people in northern Ethiopia are living on a knife-edge as the humanitarian crisis is growing deeper and wider,” it quoted Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths, who has just returned from Ethiopia, as saying. “Across the country, needs are rising. This injection of cash will help aid organizations meet some of the most vulnerable people’s need for protection and relief.”

The additional funding was meant for relief operations in the war-hit regions of Tigray, Amhara, and Afar as well as for mitigation of the impact of drought in Somali and Oromia regions, according to the statement.

This new allocation brings CERF’s support to Ethiopia this year to $65 million, making Ethiopia the second-highest recipient of CERF funds in 2021. Support from the EHF this year now totals some $80 million.

However, humanitarian operations throughout the Horn of Africa country face a funding gap of $1.3 billion, including $350 million for the response in Tigray, the statement said.