Translation of video by journalists from Tigray TV (see link below) on famine in Tigray (19 September 2021)
1st mother with her three children says “Look this child is ill, he cannot stand, he cannot sit. We haven`t eaten anything, we have nothing. This boy is hungry and thirsty, that’s it.”
2nd mother says, “I have four girls. My mother was also with me but she left just this morning. She cannot bear the hunger. I am in difficulty. It is my neighbors who have been supporting me until now.”
The narrator explains how Prime Minister Abey is using hunger as a weapon of war and how disconnecting the electricity, telephone and the banks in Tigray has aggravated the hunger in Tigray. He says, “This is attested by the elders in Tigray.”
3rd elderly mother says, “I spend my days sleeping. Even to speak to you now I am so tired. Those who used to help us are no longer here. Farmers have nothing, they are also in distress, so I have nothing, I have nothing. There is no breakfast, no dinner. Come into the house and see, there is nothing to eat in the house.”
4th mother says. “Prior to the current situation, I was in Humera with my husband. My husband died, then my son left and died in Gondor. He used to look after me, but now I have no one.”
5th mother says, “We have nothing, nothing. There is nothing. We just pray that the government and God may bring some kind of solution. I don`t know.”
4th mother continued. “I left all my belongings there, I have managed until now, thanks to the support I received. I am also sick so I need medication. This time it is tough, we are in a dire situation.”
Narrator: “Due to the blockage of food and humanitarian assistance in Woreda Slowa, Dela city, 16 people have died of hunger, and thousands of children and adults are on the verge of death according to reports from the Woreda administrator, Ato Tilahun Said, and acting administrator and teacher, Ashenafi Zewde.
Ato Tilahun says, “The people are facing a very difficult time. On the 23rd (Ethiopian Calendar), a Monday, we buried three people, two women and a man. They died of hunger. Four children also died. When we first arrived here, nine adults and six children, in total sixteen people have died of hunger.”
Ato Ashenafi says, “In the past two to three months this community have not had any food. In the last five months some people received food, but some didn’t. As a result, the people are in a very stressful situation and hunger.”
Narrator: “Extraordinarily, people are competing with animals to consume the vegetation in the area to sustain their life. Now, that is also quickly dwindling. We are therefore calling for the international community to increase their pressure to push the government of Ethiopia to open up humanitarian support for food to enter into Tigray to rescue people from tragically dying in numbers.”
