OromianEconomist

OCHA Ethiopia Humanitarian Bulletin Issue 43 -11 – 24 Dec 2017 December 27, 2017

Ethiopia Humanitarian Bulletin Issue 43 -11 – 24 Dec 2017

HIGHLIGHTS

• OCHA Director of Operations, Mr. John Ging, visited Ethiopia to review the status of the Government-led international humanitarian response to drought and conflictaffected communities, including internally displaced people.

• Humanitarian operators receive emergency logistics induction training to equip national emergency management authorities, staff from different agencies and humanitarian actors, with emergency logistics skills to ensure timely and efficient humanitarian response.

• Regional reports of the November-December national humanitarian needs assessment are currently being compiled. The humanitarian requirements for Ethiopia in 2018 will be determined once the compilation of all the regional reports is completed.

• Ethiopia continues to receive undocumented Ethiopian migrants repatriated from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

OCHA Director of Operations visited Ethiopia

On 12-14 December 2017, Mr. John Ging, OCHA Director of Operations, visited Ethiopia to first-hand review the status of the Government-led international humanitarian response to drought and conflict-affected communities, including internally displaced people. The director met and discussed with the federal and regional Government of Ethiopia, donors, humanitarian agencies and communities affected by drought and conflict. Mr.Ging acknowledged the strong partnership the Government of Ethiopia has established over the years with the Humanitarian Country Team. He said that his visit is “a reflection of the importance of that partnership.”

The director visited Hamaressa IDP camp with over 4,000 people internally displaced by the Oromo-Somali inter-communal disputes. Following a briefing by the East Hararge zone administration about the scale of the crisis, Mr.Ging reassured authorities that he is committed to advocating for appropriate response to the crisis. The zonal authorities requested for urgent food and non-food assistance to IDPs East Hararge zone.

Meanwhile subsequent intercommunal clashes were reported in West Hararge zone of Oromia region on the 12, 15 and 16 December resulting in more than 60 deaths. OCHA will continue to work with Government to verify access conditions and impact on humanitarian operations. Conflict has left close to 857,000 people displaced throughout the country.

Visit to Somali region

During the meeting with the Somali Regional Government authorities, the region requested Mr.Ging’s advocacy support to scale up the ongoing response, particularly amidst the growing IDP needs and called for development investment in durable solutions for predictable pastoralist needs. The region also asked for the speedy implementation of cashbased assistance in all targeted woredas/districts. Mr. Ging and the Somali regional authorities discussed the need to improve accountability mechanisms, including quality needs assessment and information management.