Moscow, Sep 10 (Agency) The international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Friday it was forced to suspend its activities in several regions of Ethiopia, including conflict-torn Tigray, for three months following an order from the Ethiopian Agency for Civil Society Organizations (ACSO). “Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has suspended all activities in the Amhara, Gambella and Somali regions of Ethiopia, as well as in the west and northwest of Tigray region, to comply with a three-month suspension order from the Ethiopian Agency for Civil Society Organizations (ACSO) on 30 July,” the organization said in a statement.
The MSF noted that it had undertaken all necessary actions to comply with the order and assist the ACSO with its investigation, including “putting all medical and humanitarian programmes into full suspension for a period of three months.” However, this decision, according to the organization, resulted in people from regions suffering humanitarian crises being discharged from MSF clinics, leaving them with “even further limited access to healthcare.” Additionally, the organization said that around 1,000 Ethiopian staff are on standby at home due to the suspension, while nearly all international staff have left the country. In the first half of 2021, the MSF provided over 200,000 people with outpatient consultations, admitted nearly 4,000 patients to hospitals and assisted about 1,500 women during childbirth in the four regions where the organization’s services have been suspended, the release said.
Ethiopia is currently dealing with a protracted armed conflict in one of its northern provinces. Fighting in the Tigray region broke out in November after the Ethiopian government accused the local ruling party — Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) — of attacking a regional military base to hijack weapons and arm the anti-government militia. An estimated two million of Tigray’s six million people are reported to have fled their homes amid the hostilities, and an estimated 900,000 people are likely experiencing famine conditions. In addition, about 33,000 severely malnourished children are projected to face imminent risk of death if more aid is not forthcoming to the people of Tigray, according to UN figures.