Prevent Genocide by Starvation

Aid organizations need unfettered access to Tigray now to prevent mass starvation.

How long would your family survive if the only thing you could eat was what you had in your house? For my family, we might make it 20 days if we really scrounged. The people of Tigray have been completely cut off for 40+ days, leading some to call the current situation genocide by starvation.

For weeks, aid organizations have pleaded with the Ethiopian government to allow access, but Ethiopia has refused, going as far shooting at UN workers and detaining them. (See the links to articles below.)

The most immediate way we can help Tigray is to call our elected officials and advocate that independent aid organizations be allowed to provide food and medical supplies across Tigray, and to ask what our reps are doing to resolve the situation. To help you, I’ve provided a script you can use below as well as tools to find your rep.

Your phone call works because the more calls and emails your reps get with such questions, the more they will prioritize the issue in Congress and with the State Department.

Script to contact your reps:

Script: Hello, I live in your district and I would like to know what (Senator/Representative Name) is doing about this issue: I’ve been following the situation in Tigray, Ethiopia and I don’t understand why our government is not doing more to help end the war and provide humanitarian relief, especially because Ethiopia is an ally of the U.S.  One big issue right now is that the Ethiopian government is excluding aid organizations from providing food and medical relief in Tigray. We should be putting pressure on the Ethiopian government to allow unfettered aid in now, before more lives are lost. What is (Elected Name) doing about this?

To find your reps:

Senators:
Find phone numbers for your two Senators here. (if the DC line is busy, you can google their website and find their local office phone numbers)

Representative:
Find your U.S. House Representative with this look up tool, then click for Contact and call any Office Location.

Links to articles:

From the AP: Ethiopia’s Forces shoot at, detain UN staffers in Tigray

4 Aid workers killed in Tigray After Ethiopian Troops shot at UN Officials

Twitter: NGO leader pleading for access to provide relief

The 50,000+ Refugees in Sudan

From the Voice of America, here is a child in the Um Rakouba refugee camp in Sudan.

Thank you for reading and for caring. Mawi Asgedom