I pray our leaders give peace a chance - Tigray doctor

An Ethiopian doctor who has witnessed first hand the impact of the country’s two-year civil war has welcomed the ceasefire agreed on Wednesday but ha

An Ethiopian doctor who has witnessed first hand the impact of the country’s two-year civil war has welcomed the ceasefire agreed on Wednesday but has called on leaders to “give their all for peace to materialise”.

The conflict has created a humanitarian crisis in its wake. One of the issues thrown up by the virtual blockade of Tigray has been a lack of vital medicines.

Dr Fasika Amdeslasie, who works at the main referral hospital in the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle, told the BBC last month how patients were needlessly dying because they did not have the right drugs to treat them.

Speaking to the BBC’s Newsday radio programme after the deal was signed he said that he was now “so glad there is some light down the tunnel that this may end now”.

But he underlined the urgency of getting medicines back into Tigray.

“First we have to save lives.

“We need insulin, dialysis equipment very soon. We have a dialysis patient awaiting his death in our hospital right now. We have a diabetic patient with complications awaiting his death right now.”

Dr Fasika appealed for the leaders to show goodwill.

“Peace means: food for our people, medicines for our patients, vaccines for our children, education for our children. So I hope and pray for our leaders to give their chance, their all for peace to materialise.”