Referring to coverage on Ukraine, WHO chief says world ignores conflict in his own country

By Peter Kenny

GENEVA (AA) – The World Health Organization (WHO) chief said Wednesday that the world is not paying enough attention to the Tigray conflict in Ethiopia and Black lives, implying there is too much attention on Ukraine.

Responding to a question on Tigray at a webinar, WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said: "I don't know if the world really gives equal attention to Black and white lives."

He had spoken about a blockade carried out by the Ethiopian government on the Tigray region which he said continued despite a truce.

"After one of the longest blockades in history, there is a need for 100 trucks per day containing lifesaving supplies to Tigray," said Tedros, a Tigrayan Ethiopian.

Since the truce, there should have been at least 2,000 trucks going into Tigray, he said, while there had only been 20 trucks in total – representing 1% of the need.

"In effect, the siege by the Ethiopian and Eritrean forces continues," said Tedros.

- Humanitarian truce

The Ethiopian government, on March 25, announced a humanitarian truce in its war against the Tigray rebels, a move welcomed by the Tigray People's Liberation Front, of which Tedros was a member.

"To avert the humanitarian calamity and hundreds of thousands more people from dying, we need unfettered humanitarian access from those reinforcing the siege."

The WHO chief said all the attention to Ukraine is "very important, of course, "because it impacts the whole world," while adding that not even a fraction of attention is given to Tigray, Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria "and the rest."

Tedros also noted: "And I need to be blunt and honest that the world is not treating the human race the same way. Some are more equal than others. And when I say this, it pains me. ... difficult to accept, but it's happening."

The Ethiopian government of Abiy Ahmed has been fighting against the forces of the Tigray People's Liberation Front, a hitherto all-too-powerful party that controlled Ethiopian politics for 27 years up till 2018.

In November 2020, a complex fallout began when Tigrayan rebels attacked federal army bases in Tigray.

"What is happening in Ethiopia is a tragic situation. People are being burned alive," said Tedros.

"I don't know if that was even taken seriously by the media because of their ethnicity."