His Excellency Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General
The UN Security Council
The European Union (the EU)
The African Union (the AU)
The international community,
We, members of the Mekelle University, are making a call today to the international community to make an urgent lifesaving intervention in Tigray. Tigray is a land of rich traditions and civilizations that constitute the best of Ethiopian history. Tigray has contributed scripts. literature, religions, architecture, laws, governance and state structure that morphed for centuries to make the Ethiopia of today. Tigray has defended Ethiopia's most of Invasions from foreign aggressions. Tigray has given Ethiopia the best of its formation.
Recently, Tigray has faced untold proportions of suffering caused by a war from within and out of its border. The war has come with unprecedented atrocities like weaponized rape, extrajudicial killings, disappearances, looting and destruction of crops, properties and massive displacement of Its people. According to UN reports there are 2.2 million internally displaced and 5.2 million people in urgent need of food aid and medication; in the absence of which they are facing imminent death.
The world has witnessed these sufferings in Its own eyes through reports of international media, UN briefings, special envoys of governments and multilateral institutions. We applaud the condemnations the world, including the UN, has made in response to the abhorring acts of human rights violations committed on the people of Tigray. We also appreciate the expressions of ' deep concern' expressed by UN agencies, world leaders, governments and aid agencies.
But we feel that these condemnations and expressions of concern are nowhere closer to saving our people from the abhorring human catastrophe that is facing Tigray as a consequence of the war, and the deliberate siege that dilapidated the resilience of our people. Our people are not only prohibited from receiving humanitarian assistance that the world is generous to offer, but also to use their own hard earned savings because of the closure of banks, termination of telecommunication, Internet, and power services and blockade of transportation to and from Tigray. At this juncture of its history, Tigray is experiencing a manmade form of famine that belittles the 1984 famine in its severity.
Currently, we have started to witness the death of hundreds of children and mothers, the elderly and chronic patients of diabetes, kidney, hypertension, and COVID-19 due to famine and lack of medication. Eighty percent of health centers, clinics and hospitals are reported to be destroyed and vandalized that people are dying of simply treatable diseases. The current state of the people of Tigray is so appalling that it challenges the conscience of the civilized world. How on earth can the world allow such a proportion of man-made famine and diseases propelled catastrophe under its full knowledge and watch? The world has been warned well on time and cannot claim innocence and close its eyes to the sufferings of the people of Tigray under the false disguise of sovereignty. We understand that UN and other international efforts are being scuttled by lack of cooperation on ground. The siege that is going on is deliberate and may not end in a short period of time. We, the Mekelle University community, are disappointed and frustrated by the reaction of the UN and the world in general to this humongous manmade famine on the people of ,gray. Expression of concern is no more a chance to our starving citizens. We need action from the world and the UN. We need food delivered to our people through any means including through humanitarian flights that directly land in Tigray. Saving lives shall come first before any political and sovereignty discourses. Hence, we call on the UN and the international community to urgently intervene and save the lives of our citizens that are sentenced to die In silence. We cannot afford to sit idle and watch the death of children and the elderly while the world has a means to save them.
We urge the UN to Act Now!
We urge the world to Act Now!
The UN must sanction direct humanitarian flights Now!
Hunger can't wait!
Women and children can't wait!
Tigray can't wait!
We thank you. Cc.
• Mr. Grant Leaity, Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator
• Mr. Tahir Ibrahim, Head of OCHA Tigray
- Mekelle University Community’s call for lifesaving intervention to the International community
- Mekelle University Community’s call for lifesaving intervention to the International community