Mekelle’s plight: A doctor’s account of Ethiopia’s Tigray war
Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 8:51 am
- mekelle-under-pp.jpg (121.7 KiB) Viewed 3277 times
The fighting that began early last month between government troops and forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is thought to have killed thousands of people and forced an estimated one million from their homes.
Despite the seizure of Mekelle on November 28, clashes between the federal forces and the TPLF are believed to be continuing in some parts of rural Tigray. Swathes of the mountainous state of more than five million people remain inaccessible to news outlets and humanitarian groups, while an internet and telephone blackout has made it difficult to obtain and verify information about the conflict.
But a testimony given to Al Jazeera by a doctor who worked at Mekelle’s main hospital until their return last week to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, has offered a rare, first-hand account of the mounting medical needs and the dismal living conditions in the city during the conflict.
The doctor, whose name has been withheld to shield them from any possible reprisal, provided a copy of their identity card and another document to prove their yearlong employment at Ayder Referral Hospital. Their account below has been slightly edited for brevity and clarity.
“On the night of November 3, I was in the hospital’s operating room. Suddenly, the lights went out. The emergency room was then flooded with severely wounded soldiers. They were at least 60 from both sides. I am a gynaecologist but I had to help. In that moment alone, I witnessed five deaths.
Read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/ ... 2lQdunN2P8“I was faced with the threat of hunger. Some of my friends were already starting to starve. Fortunately, the people of Mekelle were all kind, despite the fact that I and my friends were Amharic-speaking. It was our Tigrayan neighbours and friends who were feeding us in those difficult times. For instance, one of my friends was eating in his landlord’s house for almost one month. She did not ask him to pay rent. Shops were lending us items. They were all very kind.