1 lakh women raped and 5 lakh deaths, children starving

The attention of the whole world is on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. It is being discussed in every major forum of the world, some Ukraine is taking the side of Russia. At the same time, there is a part of the world where more than 5 lakh people have died in the ongoing war. One lakh women have been raped. The situation is so bad that thousands of children died of hunger. 20 lakh people became homeless.

War is brewing in the African country of Ethiopia, where separatists in Tigre province have been fighting violently against the federal government for the past two years. Ethiopia’s civil war began in November 2020, when federal forces invaded Tigre province to suppress separatism.

Telecom and internet services are currently completely closed in Tigre, which has a population of about 7 million. Due to this, the information about the worse situation here is not reaching the outside world. Here electricity has been cut and banking services are also not working.

Tigre-born pharmacist Dr. Mebrahatu, who understands Tigre’s ground situation and is currently living in the US, says she has been barely able to contact her family since the war broke out. They are unable to send money to them due to the shutdown of the bank and internet.

Mebrahatu says my grandmother, mother, brother, sister all live in the village and I don’t know how they are. Four months ago one of my cousins ​​somehow crossed the border and called me. He told that two of my nephews have died of hunger. One of them was a newborn. Four family elders and neighbors have been murdered by Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers. These were all pastors. My village Tembien was massacred.

During the war, the Ethiopian army has also faced serious allegations of rape. According to Tigre human rights activists, more than a million women from their community were raped. Mebrahatu also alleges that the women of his village were also raped by the army fighters. The internet has been turned off so that this information cannot reach the outside world.

She further says – I am living in the shadow of fear because of the Tigre War. Many people have died in my family, but I am worried about what will happen to the rest of the family.

The activist alleges that this is not a war, but a conspiracy to eliminate the entire Tigre breed. The Ethiopian army has surrounded Tigre from all sides. The second border is under siege by the Eritrean army.

It has become difficult for Tigre to communicate with the outside world or order daily essentials. Because of this, conditions of starvation have arisen in Tigre. The UN has also expressed concern over this.

According to a report by the Ghent University of Belgium, 5 lakh people have died in this war so far. Mebrahatu says that the entire tiger population is facing starvation due to the military siege. More people are dying of hunger than they are dying of bullets. You can neither go inside the Tigre nor come out from there. Tigre is currently the largest concentration camp in the world. This is the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world.

According to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, about two million people have fled their homes since the start of the Tigre War. Thousands have also fled to neighboring South Sudan. More than 2.5 million people in Tigre are in urgent need of help.