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Internally displaced children run in an alley of a camp in the town of Azezo, Ethiopia, on July 12, 2021. The camp hosts Ethiopians as well as Eritrean refugees uprooted by the ongoing war in the region of Tigray. (Photo: Eduardo Soteras/AFP via Getty Images)
Over 100 Children Killed in Attacks Amid 'Disastrous' Tigray Conflict: UNICEF
The repudiation of the Thursday attacks comes amid "extensive, systematic destruction" of key infrastructure and ongoing conflict in northern Ethiopia.
Aug 09, 2021
The United Nations children's agency expressed alarm Monday in response to reported attacks that killed over 100 children in Ethiopia's Afar region amid a humanitarian catastrophe fueled by the spreading and ongoing Tigray conflict.
"The intensification of fighting in Afar and other areas neighboring Tigray is disastrous for children," UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore said in statement that put the death toll of Thursday's attack on families sheltering at a health facility and a school at over 200.
The latest violence, Fore added, "follows months of armed conflict across Tigray that have placed some 400,000 people, including at least 160,000 children, in famine-like conditions. Four million people are in crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity in Tigray and adjoining regions of Afar and Amhara. More than 100,000 have been newly displaced by the recent fighting, adding to the 2 million people already uprooted from their homes."
Fore warned of the threat of "a 10-fold increase in the number of children who will suffer from life-threatening malnutrition in Tigray over the next 12 months," as "extensive, systematic destruction of health and other services that children and communities rely on for survival" continues.
"The humanitarian catastrophe spreading across northern Ethiopia is being driven by armed conflict and can only be resolved by the parties to the conflict," said Fore.
Nine months of fighting between armed forces of the Tigray People's Liberation Front and forces aligned with the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) have been blamed for thousands of deaths and sparked repeated warnings of harm to civilians, including from blockades stopping humanitarian aid, destruction of farming infrastructure, and rape as a weapon of war.
Agence France-Pressereported Friday:
Rebel forces from Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray on Friday rebuffed U.S. calls to leave neighboring regions, one day after they seized famed UNESCO heritage site Lalibela, the latest turn in the nine-month conflict.
"Nothing of the sort is going to happen unless the blockade is lifted," said Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), referring to restrictions on humanitarian access.
Northern Ethiopia has been wracked by fighting since last November, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops to topple the TPLF, the then-ruling party of Tigray which dominated national politics for nearly three decades before Abiy took office in 2018.
In an op-ed published in June at the New York Times, Ethiopian journalist Tsedale Lemma accused the Abiy government of "waging brutal war" on Tigray, calling it "Abiy's punishment for Tigray's refusal to accept his authority."
The U.N.'s emergency relief chief, meanwhile, says a ceasefire is urgently needed.
"This war has to stop," said U.N. relief chief Martin Griffiths on Friday, "this war has to end."
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The United Nations children's agency expressed alarm Monday in response to reported attacks that killed over 100 children in Ethiopia's Afar region amid a humanitarian catastrophe fueled by the spreading and ongoing Tigray conflict.
"The intensification of fighting in Afar and other areas neighboring Tigray is disastrous for children," UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore said in statement that put the death toll of Thursday's attack on families sheltering at a health facility and a school at over 200.
The latest violence, Fore added, "follows months of armed conflict across Tigray that have placed some 400,000 people, including at least 160,000 children, in famine-like conditions. Four million people are in crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity in Tigray and adjoining regions of Afar and Amhara. More than 100,000 have been newly displaced by the recent fighting, adding to the 2 million people already uprooted from their homes."
Fore warned of the threat of "a 10-fold increase in the number of children who will suffer from life-threatening malnutrition in Tigray over the next 12 months," as "extensive, systematic destruction of health and other services that children and communities rely on for survival" continues.
"The humanitarian catastrophe spreading across northern Ethiopia is being driven by armed conflict and can only be resolved by the parties to the conflict," said Fore.
Nine months of fighting between armed forces of the Tigray People's Liberation Front and forces aligned with the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) have been blamed for thousands of deaths and sparked repeated warnings of harm to civilians, including from blockades stopping humanitarian aid, destruction of farming infrastructure, and rape as a weapon of war.
Agence France-Pressereported Friday:
Rebel forces from Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray on Friday rebuffed U.S. calls to leave neighboring regions, one day after they seized famed UNESCO heritage site Lalibela, the latest turn in the nine-month conflict.
"Nothing of the sort is going to happen unless the blockade is lifted," said Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), referring to restrictions on humanitarian access.
Northern Ethiopia has been wracked by fighting since last November, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops to topple the TPLF, the then-ruling party of Tigray which dominated national politics for nearly three decades before Abiy took office in 2018.
In an op-ed published in June at the New York Times, Ethiopian journalist Tsedale Lemma accused the Abiy government of "waging brutal war" on Tigray, calling it "Abiy's punishment for Tigray's refusal to accept his authority."
The U.N.'s emergency relief chief, meanwhile, says a ceasefire is urgently needed.
"This war has to stop," said U.N. relief chief Martin Griffiths on Friday, "this war has to end."
The United Nations children's agency expressed alarm Monday in response to reported attacks that killed over 100 children in Ethiopia's Afar region amid a humanitarian catastrophe fueled by the spreading and ongoing Tigray conflict.
"The intensification of fighting in Afar and other areas neighboring Tigray is disastrous for children," UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore said in statement that put the death toll of Thursday's attack on families sheltering at a health facility and a school at over 200.
The latest violence, Fore added, "follows months of armed conflict across Tigray that have placed some 400,000 people, including at least 160,000 children, in famine-like conditions. Four million people are in crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity in Tigray and adjoining regions of Afar and Amhara. More than 100,000 have been newly displaced by the recent fighting, adding to the 2 million people already uprooted from their homes."
Fore warned of the threat of "a 10-fold increase in the number of children who will suffer from life-threatening malnutrition in Tigray over the next 12 months," as "extensive, systematic destruction of health and other services that children and communities rely on for survival" continues.
"The humanitarian catastrophe spreading across northern Ethiopia is being driven by armed conflict and can only be resolved by the parties to the conflict," said Fore.
Nine months of fighting between armed forces of the Tigray People's Liberation Front and forces aligned with the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) have been blamed for thousands of deaths and sparked repeated warnings of harm to civilians, including from blockades stopping humanitarian aid, destruction of farming infrastructure, and rape as a weapon of war.
Agence France-Pressereported Friday:
Rebel forces from Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray on Friday rebuffed U.S. calls to leave neighboring regions, one day after they seized famed UNESCO heritage site Lalibela, the latest turn in the nine-month conflict.
"Nothing of the sort is going to happen unless the blockade is lifted," said Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), referring to restrictions on humanitarian access.
Northern Ethiopia has been wracked by fighting since last November, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops to topple the TPLF, the then-ruling party of Tigray which dominated national politics for nearly three decades before Abiy took office in 2018.
In an op-ed published in June at the New York Times, Ethiopian journalist Tsedale Lemma accused the Abiy government of "waging brutal war" on Tigray, calling it "Abiy's punishment for Tigray's refusal to accept his authority."
The U.N.'s emergency relief chief, meanwhile, says a ceasefire is urgently needed.
"This war has to stop," said U.N. relief chief Martin Griffiths on Friday, "this war has to end."
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LATEST NEWS
Columbia Yanks Degrees From Pro-Palestine Protesters Amid Outrage Over Khalil Arrest
The impacted students and graduates are accused of participating in the occupation of a university building that protesters renamed in honor of a child killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Mar 13, 2025
As the Trump administration's effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil sparks legal battles and demonstrations, Columbia University announced Thursday that it has revoked degrees from some other pro-Palestinian campus protesters.
A campuswide email reported by The Associated Press and shared on social media by Drop Site News says that "the Columbia University Judicial Board determined findings and issued sanctions to students ranging from multiyear suspensions, temporary degree revocations, and expulsions related to the occupation of Hamilton Hall last spring."
According to both news outlets, the university's email did not say how many students and graduates were impacted by each action.
As part of nationwide protests over the U.S. government and educational institutions' complicity in Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, Columbia students took over the building last April and renamed it Hind's Hall, in honor of a young Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces. With support from the university's leadership, New York Police Department officers stormed the campus.
Columbia's new sanctions against protesters were widely condemned on social media. Iowa-based writer Gavin Aronsen quipped, "This is a great PR strategy, come to Columbia where you'll get a solid education as long as you never speak your mind."
News of the university's latest action on Thursday came after over 100 people were arrested outside Trump Tower in New York City during a Jewish-led protest over the government's attempt to deport Khalil, a green-card holder who finished his studies at Columbia in December.
"The Trump administration's outrageous detention of Mahmoud Khalil is designed to sow terror and stop people of conscience from calling for Palestinian freedom," said Ros Petchesky, an 82-year-old MacArthur fellow and Columbia alumna. "We are Jewish New Yorkers and we remain steadfast in our commitment to Palestinian freedom, to protecting free speech and the right to protest, and to defending immigrants and all under attack by the Trump regime."
Meanwhile, during a Thursday interview with NPR about Khalil's detention, Troy Edgar, deputy homeland security secretary, equated protesting and terrorism.
Judge Orders Trump Administration to Reverse 'Sham' Mass Firing of Federal Workers
"It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that's a lie."
Mar 13, 2025
A U.S. judge on Thursday ruled that the Trump administration must reinstate thousands of government workers fired from half a dozen federal agencies based on the "lie" that their performance warranted termination.
U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California William Alsup—an appointee of former President Bill Clinton—granted a preliminary injunction supporting a temporary restraining order against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and acting Director Charles Ezell on the grounds that the mass firing of probationary federal employees is "unlawful" because the agency lacked the authority for the move.
Alsup—who last month also found the OPM firings illegal—ordered the Trump administration to immediately reinstate all probationary employees terminated from the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.
"The reason that OPM wanted to put this based on performance was at least in part in my judgment a gimmick to avoid the Reductions in Force (RIF) Act, because the law always allows you to fire somebody for performance," Alsup said, referring the process used by federal agencies reduce the size of their workforce during reorganizations or budget cuts.
Last month, Trump signed an executive order directing Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to institute RIFs across federal agencies as part of a so-called "workforce optimization initiative."
"It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that's a lie," Alsup wrote. "That should not have been done in our country. It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements."
While the White House blasted Alsup's ruling as "absurd and unconstitutional" and lodged an appeal, advocates for government workers cheered the decision.
Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said in a statement that the union "is pleased with Judge Alsup's order to immediately reinstate tens of thousands of probationary federal employees who were illegally fired from their jobs by an administration hellbent on crippling federal agencies and their work on behalf of the American public."
"We are grateful for these employees and the critical work they do, and AFGE will keep fighting until all federal employees who were unjustly and illegally fired are given their jobs back," Kelley added.
Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), said: "Public service workers are the backbone of our communities in every way. Today, we are proud to celebrate the court's decision which orders that fired federal employees must be reinstated and reinforces they cannot be fired without reason."
"This is a big win for all workers, especially AFSCME members of the United Nurses Associations of California and Council 20, who will be able to continue their essential work at the Department of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs Department, and other agencies," Saunders added.
Violet Wulf-Saena, founder and executive director of Climate Resilient Communities—a California-based nonprofit that "brings people together to create local solutions for a healthy planet"—also welcomed Thursday's ruling.
"The mass firing of public service employees is a direct assault on the environmental justice movement and will harm people living in heavily polluted communities," she said. "Today's decision represents a key win for our movement because our lifesaving work cannot proceed without the vital infrastructure and support of our federal employees."
Congressman Raúl Grijalva, Defender of Working People and Planet, Dead at 77
"Rep. Grijalva fought a long and brave battle," his staff said. "He passed away this morning due to complications of his cancer treatments."
Mar 13, 2025
Condolences and remembrances swiftly mounted on Thursday after the staff of U.S. Congressman Raúl Grijalva announced that the Arizona Democrat died at the age of 77, following a fight with lung cancer.
"Rep. Grijalva fought a long and brave battle. He passed away this morning due to complications of his cancer treatments," according to the office of the late congressman, who announced his diagnosis last April.
Grijalva, who represented Arizona's 7th District, was first elected to Congress in 2002. While on Capitol Hill, he rose to leadership roles, including co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and chair of the House Natural Resources Committee.
"From permanently protecting the Grand Canyon for future generations to strengthening the Affordable Care Act, his proudest moments in Congress have always been guided by community voices," Grijalva's staff said. "He led the charge for historic investments in climate action, port of entry modernization, permanent funding for land and water conservation programs, access to healthcare for tribal communities and the uninsured, fairness for immigrant families and Dreamers, student loan forgiveness, stronger protections for farmers and workers exposed to extreme heat, early childhood education expansion, higher standards for tribal consultation, and so much more."
"From Tucson to Nogales and beyond, he worked tirelessly for transformational improvements. Rep. Grijalva pushed for new public parks, childcare centers, healthcare clinics, local businesses, and affordable housing [that] breathed new life into neighborhoods across Southern Arizona. Improvements to our roads, bridges, and streetcar system have improved our daily lives and attracted new businesses and industries to the area," the office added. "Rep. Grijalva's passion was not only for his community, but for preservation of the planet."
Grijalva's colleagues also highlighted key parts of his legacy. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a former House member, said that "I am heartbroken by the news of Congressman Raúl Grijalva's passing. For climate justice, economic justice, health justice—Raúl fought fearlessly for change. We served a decade together on the Natural Resources Committee, and I will forever be grateful for his leadership and partnership."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who also previously served in the lower chamber, said that "I mourn the death of Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a former colleague of mine and one of the most progressive members of the U.S. House. Raúl was a fighter for working families throughout his entire life. He will be sorely missed."
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called his death "a genuinely devastating loss," adding: "Raúl Grijalva stood as one of the biggest champions for working people in all of Congress. His leadership was singular. He mentored generously and was an incredible friend. I will always be grateful for his lifelong courage and commitment."
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) said that "today we lost a dedicated progressive leader in Raúl Grijalva. The son of a bracero, Rep. Grijalva's 12-term commitment to our environment, to immigrant communities, and to his constituents in Tucson enriched this country. His passing is a monumental loss for our caucus and communities."
Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.) wrote: "Wow. This is such a loss for Arizona and our country. Chair Raúl Grijalva has been a champion for progressive change his entire life. From the school board to Congress, his leadership and voice inspired so many. Myself included. Rest in power, Chairman Grijalva."
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), elected to Congress in November, said that "I'm devastated to hear of the passing of my colleague Raúl Grijalva. He was a fighter for Arizonans and a champion for Indigenous communities and our planet. We will all miss him dearly. My thoughts are with his family, friends, loved ones, and constituents."
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who switched chambers after the last election, said that "Congressman Grijalva was not just my colleague, but my friend. As another Latino working in public service, I can say from experience that he served as a role model to many young people across the Grand Canyon State. He spent his life as a voice for equality."
"In Congress, I was proud to see firsthand his leadership as chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee as he stood up for Arizona's water rights, natural beauty, and tribes," Gallego added. "I am praying for his family during this time of grief, and I hope that they find comfort knowing his legacy is one that will stand tall for generations."
Advocacy group leaders also weighed in, with Kierán Suckling, executive director and founder of the Center for Biological Diversity, calling his death "a heartbreaking, devastating loss for the people of Southern Arizona and everyone around this nation who loves the natural world."
"Raúl was a great friend and partner in our fight for clean air and water, our beautiful public lands, and wildlife great and small," Suckling said. "We can all look to him as the model of what every member of Congress and every person of dignity and hope should aspire to be."
"From Mexican wolves to spotted owls to the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse, every creature in this country had a friend in Raúl," Suckling added. "He was as fierce as a jaguar, and that's why we called him our Macho G. I'll miss him dearly."
According to KVOA, the NBC affiliate in Tucson, Grijalva's office "will continue providing constituent services during the special election" to fill his seat.
Grijalva's death follows that of Congressman Sylvester Turner (D-Texas), who died on March 5. His seat will also need to be filled by a special election.
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