Mekelle፡ 09 December 2023(Tigray Herald)
The death toll climbs to 67 as hunger grips Sewhea Saesie district in Eastern Tigray
Hunger strikes districts in Eastern Tigray including Sewha Saesie.
Birhane Abay, Administrator, says the death of 67 people has been officially recorded so far in six vicinities in the the district.
Residents, children and elderly we spoke also witness the suffering they’re enduring.
Children, compelled to excavate fruits known as ኩዕንቲ (Quienti) beneath farmlands, share the heartbreaking impact on their education due to the absence of daily meals.
They say this has darkened thier aspirations and made them halt visiting schools as they have no daily meal .
Kahsa, an elderly women we met while collecting Quinti with her pregnant daughter and three grandchldren reveals she is worried about the kids and her pregnant daughter who couldn’t get anything to be eaten .
Lactating and pregnat mothers in the vicinity of Geblen ,Sewha Saesie ,also add they are suffering from lack of medical suppilies as governmental and non governmental organizations continue to give them deaf ear .
Elderlies Priest Basha Desta and Abeba,who lived together for more than sixty years, also say they are enduring immense challengs as the result of the hunger they have never experienced in thier “entire life “.
Abeba adds, in addition, to the drought that exacerbated thier living ondition ,Eritrean forces had looted thier foods while they were at home as they can’t move.
The residents in the Geblen vicinity also add they are cut off from infrastructure and couldn’t access medicine ,potable water and food staffs fast .
The bare farmlands on the ground witness the failure in product for three and more years .
The farmers say they could collect thier products as they couldn’t receive rain for three consecutive rain seasons .
The residents desperately call aid agencies, regional and federal authorities to double efforts on life-saving assistances.
Solomon Berhe reports from Edaga Hamus, Eastern Tigray.
