Mekelle hospitals struggling to care for wounded: ICRC

Hospitals and health facilities in the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region are struggling to care for people wounded in a weeks-long conflict as medical supplies run dangerously low, an aid group has warned.

In a rare report from inside the northern city of Mekelle on Sunday, a day after Ethiopia declared victory in its operation against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said some 80 percent of patients at Ayder Referral Hospital have trauma injuries.

The ICRC warned that food was also running low, the result of the Tigray region being cut off from outside aid for almost a month. The group said 1,000 Eritrean refugees have arrived in Mekelle from their refugee camps near the Eritrean border, looking for food and other help.

The fighting between Ethiopian federal troops and forces loyal to the TPLF, which ran Tigray, has threatened to destabilise Ethiopia and the wider Horn of Africa region. Thousands of people are believed to have been killed and nearly 44,000 have fled to neighbouring Sudan since hostilities began on November 4.

Communications remain almost completely severed – making it hard to verify claims made by the warring sides – and the United Nations has been unable to access Tigray and provide aid. Fears are growing about the atrocities that might emerge once transport and other links are restored.

The government had given the TPLF an ultimatum that expired on Wednesday to surrender or face an assault on the city.