Target: Samantha Power, Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Goal: Stop the genocide and famine in Ethiopia related to its current civil war.
Called one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, the civil war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region is a profound fight to determine if all regions in the country should be unified or exist autonomously from the federal control. The complicated disagreement has spawned a number of invested military organizations consequently fighting each other in order to achieve different desired outcomes. The number of players in the conflict has prompted some military forces to employ controversial tactics which ultimately have created instability in Ethiopia and terrible consequences for civilians.
Much of the collateral suffering in Ethiopia stems from its government’s chokehold on movement in and out of Tigray. Stifling communication along with physical blockades have prevented humanitarian aid from providing much needed supplies to nonmilitants affected by the turmoil. This, along with record drought, has taken a most dramatic toll on children with 2,500+ hunger related fatalities since the war started, over a 1500% increase since 2020 according to Yahoo! News. These numbers do not take into account adults who often sacrifice resources for themselves in order to continue providing for their children.
Ethiopia needs humanitarian aid now. Politics must be cast aside in order to provide efficient and immediate food, water, and other vital supplies to the citizens of the Tigray region. Sign the petition below to urge Samantha Power of USAID to deliver now and save lives.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Administrator Power,
The United States’ support is needed now more than ever by the people of the Tigray Region in Ethiopia. Two years of civil war and guerilla tactics have claimed tens of thousands of lives, including innocent children. These numbers only increase as potential resolutions fall through while Ethiopia works towards a mutually beneficial solution. Your website providing updates on support in this part of the world scarcely mentions the conflict as a driving force for Ethiopian suffering, but these turbulent factors extremely exacerbate their situation and should not be underestimated.
USAID already claims to have provided fertilizer for farmers in northern Ethiopia where much of the fighting is. Even if the major drought there did not play a role in the country’s food insecurity, military conflict still would prevent the establishing of farms to effectively address the critical level of hunger Ethiopians are enduring. This means meals ready to eat and potable water must be sent to their doorsteps immediately. The time to save lives is now.
Ethiopians have struggled to find common ground in their U.S. partnership; the country generally has made the relationship too political and expected aid to equal influence. It’s time to stop thinking of this as a reciprocal relationship and simply see it as an opportunity to keep people alive, especially perishing children, long enough for the conflict to see a resolution. Only then can the U.S. return to worrying about Ethiopia’s self-sufficiency and their role on the global stage.
We urge you to start sending food and water to Ethiopia now to save the lives of countless children and others affected by the civil war in the Tigray Region.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: USAID
