DW Amharic – Displaced persons in South Wollo Zone report severe food shortages
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Disclaimer: This is an English translation of an Amharic article taken from DW Amharic and is intended solely for information purposes.
DW Amharic – Displaced persons in South Wollo Zone report severe food shortages
November 22, 2025 (Hedar 13, 2018 EC)
Displaced persons sheltered near Hayq and Wuchale towns of South Wollo Zone report facing severe food shortages. According to the displaced persons it has been over seven months since they received a small quantity of food assistance which has now stopped.
They added the small amount they received had been spoiled forcing them to travel to the city to sell it as animal fodder. The Wuchale Woreda Food Security authority stated once they confirmed the needs from the displaced persons they began regular support after five months.
A displaced person whose name has been withheld who was displaced from East Wollega had taken shelter in the Hayq area for several years. They told Deutsche Welle that disruption of the already sparse food assistance which would arrive late has exposed them to a severe food shortage.
“What do we have? We are facing a severe problem. We have nothing, they used to give us corn every four months or every three months, but that was spoiled and rotten, it was corn harvested in 2001 or 2002 EC, and on top of this we have nothing and have been sleeping on the floor, we are facing severe hardship.”
Another displaced person who said they lived in the Hayq area confirmed they were living under horrid conditions and hopes of receiving relief were dissipating.
“What can we do? We are facing severe hardship on top of hardship. We hoped the problem would eventually be resolved, we had hoped we could do physical labor for work, but the relief has not been sufficient Alhamdulillah we are able to sleep.”
Thousands have been displaced from their homes and property due to various outbreaks of conflict in Oromia, Tigray and Afar Regions and have taken shelter in various parts of South Wollo Zone, as our station has previously reported.
A displaced person whose name has been withheld says it has been over five years since they were displaced from the Adayetu area of Afar Region to Ambassel Woreda. They described facing challenges finding humanitarian relief and shelter over the years and explained how more refugees including from Sudan had further complicated the problem.
“When I came in 2013 EC many people came from Tigray, then from Afar and from Oromia, and since then the number has increased. Now there are people coming from Sudan. A very large number of people have come from Sudan.”
According to the displaced person the area has become strained by the number of displaced people and refugees without a conventional shelter center, and said the displaced persons have taken shelter in religious institutions and they have lost hope in receiving humanitarian relief.
“We don’t have any solution, we have asked for so much. We asked for a shelter camp, we organized ourselves and requested a provisional container, but we didn’t receive any response. Now the displaced persons are living awaiting relief every seven or eight months. We no longer have any hope.”
Our repeated efforts to contact the zonal emergency prevention and food security program coordinating office head Ato Ali Sayed to ask why humanitarian relief had not been delivered to displaced persons in South Wollo Zone, were not successful. Efforts to contact the regional emergency risk commission head Deacon Tesfaw were also not successful.
However, a professional from the Wuchale Woreda food security office who spoke on condition of anonymity said they were working to deliver relief within five months of confirming appeals from the displaced persons.
The official stated that the problem had been exacerbated due to lack of attention from the government and confirmed that displaced persons were given spoiled food.
“There isn’t enough attention. The government is not working on this as a priority. And what they do provide is substandard, they provide corn every four or five months.”
The emergency prevention professional said what was being provided was not helping, and as an alternative the professional had opted to organize the local community to provide assistance.
The South Wollo Zone office in a recent update on its social media page stated that the Ethiopian federal emergency commission was delivering domestically produced corn to vulnerable parts of the country. They stated the corn was spoiled in part or in whole. The zonal emergency prevention and food security office had issued a notice not to distribute spoiled corn or other relief, and if received not to distribute it to those in need.
Tamrat Dinsa
Mantegaftot Sileshi
