Amhara Region unable to provide humanitarian support to over half a million displaced compatriots

By Hailegebriel Endeshaw
Staff Reporter

ADDIS ABABA – (BORKENA) – Amhara Regional State said that providing humanitarian support to the 700,000 displaced people in the region has become a burden.

In West Gojam Zone of Amhara Region there are about 300,000 people who have been displaced from different parts of the country. These people are living in a scattered manner with their relatives. Many of them who have particularly come from Wellega, Metekel and Welkait are calling for support, according to the news source.

The displaced people told Al Ain News that they “are worried about the lives they are leading”. Demelash Adugna who is in the middle of 40s is one of the people who have been displaced from Gida-Ayana Wereda of Oromia Region. His family of six children were displaced from the area where they lived for 25 years. “I had to send my children first to save their lives. Thinking that peace would perhaps reinstate, I stayed behind. However, as things got worse, I walked across and reached Gojam,” Demelash said.

Demelash said that after a year he has been receiving 15 kg of wheat from the government. However, it is five months since they have stopped providing them with the wheat, according to him. Now Demelash is pushing on life in a rental house. He said he tried to make two ends meet by working as a daily laborer. “It is very worrisome to settle rent by the end of the month,” Demelash said.

Bogale Fanta was displaced from the Northern part of the country as a result of the recent war. That time he led his life on farming. He said many of the displaced people including him were made to live with their relatives in West Gojam Zone. He was forced to flee his area as the war broke out two years back in the northern parts of the country. Bogale said that he is now earning his living by working as a daily laborer.

The Amhara Regional State said that it has faced difficulties to provide humanitarian aid to over half a million displaced compatriots located in the region. Director of Regional Disaster Prevention and Food Security Early Warning Response Bureau, Birhanu Zewdu told Al Ain News that there “are 660,000 displaced people in the region”. Many of them were displaced from Oromia. Amhara Region has been providing aid to all displaced people located in various Zones including West Gojam Zone, Birhanu said.

However, the Director Demelash said that the humanitarian support has not been doled out sufficiently. Due to this, the Bureau was forced to skip the regular supply that should be given on monthly basis.