DistantNews
Support us
🇨🇭 Switzerland /Environment & Climate

In Tigray, Historic Drought Adds to the Threat of a New War With Addis Ababa

From Le Temps · () French

Translated from French and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Ongoing story
  • Tigray is experiencing its most severe recorded drought, damaging crops and leaving livestock dangerously thin.
  • Families are relying on grain harvested the previous year as they confront food insecurity after the 2020-2022 conflict.
  • The drought coincides with renewed tensions between Tigray and Ethiopia’s federal government since May.

Cattle so thin that their bones seem ready to pierce their skin wander across stony fields in Tigray, searching for the smallest patch of grass. The region is enduring its most severe rainfall shortage on record, even though Ethiopia’s summer normally brings the year’s heaviest rains.

“We cannot harvest anything because the crops dried up due to the lack of rain,” Futsimti Tesfay told Le Temps on September 3. She lives with her five children about 90 kilometers southeast of Mekele, the capital of Tigray in northern Ethiopia.

The family is watching anxiously as its sacks of sorghum, teff and wheat, gathered the previous year, begin to run down. The drought has struck a region still struggling to recover from the 2020-2022 conflict.

We cannot harvest anything because the crops dried up due to the lack of rain.

· Futsimti TesfayA Tigray resident described how the drought has destroyed the family’s crops.

At the same time, tensions with the federal authorities in Addis Ababa have intensified again since May. “On one side there is the drought, and on the other there is war. So we pray,” Tesfay said.

The article cites the Famine Early Warning Network in describing the situation during June and July. For families in Tigray, the failed rains have added a fresh threat to the hardship left by conflict and to fears of renewed war.

On one side there is the drought, and on the other there is war. So we pray.

· Futsimti TesfayShe summarized the pressure created by the drought and renewed tensions with Ethiopia’s federal authorities.
About this summary

Originally published by Le Temps in French. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog