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world news Diahuebs 21 aPRiL 2022

Hunger kills hundreds of kids in Ethiopia’s Tigray

(AP) — At least 1,900 in health facilities.” are especially at risk of mal-
children under 5 have nutrition, as their parents
died from malnutrition Tigray has been cut off from don’t have farmland to grow
in Ethiopia’s embattled the rest of Ethiopia since food, Tigrayan health offi-
Tigray region in the past June when fighters from the cials say.
year, according to a study Tigray People’s Liberation
conducted by regional Front, or TPLF, recaptured Around 700,000 people in
health officials and seen most of the region as federal Tigray are in the grip of
by The Associated Press. forces withdrew. “famine-like conditions”
due to the obstruction of aid,
The deaths were recorded Banking services, phone lines U.S. officials estimate.
at health facilities across Ti- and road links are all down
gray between June last year in the region, a situation Ethiopia’s federal govern-
and April 1. Western Tigray, the United Nations has said ment unilaterally declared
which is under the control of amounts to a “de facto block- a surprise “humanitarian
forces from the neighboring ade.” truce” on March 24, an an-
Amhara region, was not in- nouncement it said would
cluded in the survey. Ethiopian authorities insist allow aid to flow into Tigray. nyan capital, on Wednesday, treat many patients they en-
there is no deliberate effort But nearly one month later, according to the aid worker, counter. Some who recently
A doctor involved in the to target Tigrayan civilians. only four convoys of around who attended. That’s a sharp spoke to AP said shortages
study said the true number of They have urged Tigrayan 80 food trucks have entered increase from the previous are so dire that some patients’
child deaths from malnutri- fighters to surrender. the region. assessment of 600 a week. relatives must personally buy
tion is likely higher as most The aid worker also spoke on medicines from private phar-
families are unable to bring More than 90% of Tigray’s “Literally nothing has the condition of anonymity macies at inflated prices and
their children to health cen- 5.5 million people require changed,” said an aid worker for safety concerns. bring them to the hospital
ters because of transporta- humanitarian assistance, in- who recently visited Tigray. before their family members
tion challenges. Most hun- cluding 115,000 children “We are just seeing a hand- Just 3% of the vegetable can be treated.
ger deaths go unrecorded, he who are severely malnour- ful of trucks; these trucks are seeds and 10% of the fertil-
said. ished, according to U.N. fig- better than nothing but they izer required for the current Tens of thousands of people
ures. are not going to feed the mil- planting season have reached have been killed in the war,
“Because we cannot access lions of people who need aid Tigray, according to U.N. according to estimates by in-
most areas, we do not know Civil servants have not been (in Tigray).” figures, raising fears of a poor ternational aid groups.
what is happening on the paid in months. Many have harvest that would deepen
community level,” said the run out of cash to buy food An estimated 2,000 trucks of the region’s hunger crisis. But there is little hope for
doctor, who requested ano- and other goods because food must enter Tigray every peace talks as Ethiopian au-
nymity for fear of reprisals. banking services have been week to meet the region’s Some health officials in Ti- thorities have outlawed the
“These are simply the deaths shut down. The children of needs, a U.N. official said at gray say they simply don’t TPLF, effectively making its
we have managed to record families living in urban areas a meeting in Nairobi, the Ke- have enough supplies to leaders fugitives on the run.

China looks to learn from Russian failures in Ukraine

(AP) — With its ground invasion of Ukraine as they Moskva sank after Ukraine TRA Technology, a U.S.- Ukraine have shown weak-
troops forced to pull back might apply to his own Peo- said it hit the ship with mis- based government services nesses where decisions have
in Ukraine and regroup, ple’s Liberation Army and his siles; Russia blamed the sink- firm. had to be made on the front
and its Black Sea flagship designs on the self-governed ing on a fire on board. lines, he said.
sunk, Russia’s military island of Taiwan. “Russia’s experience in
failings are mounting. No President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine has shown that what China’s seven military dis-
country is paying closer at- Russia’s armed forces have who has been closely in- may seem plausible on paper tricts have been reorganized
tention than China to how undergone an extensive pro- volved in Russia’s military at the Academy of Military into five theater commands,
a smaller and outgunned cess of reform and invest- reform, did not even appoint Science or National Defense the number of group armies
force has badly bloodied ment for more than a decade, an overall commander for the University becomes much reduced and the logistics sys-
what was thought to be with lessons learned in com- operation until about a week more complicated in the real tem reorganized to boost ef-
one of the world’s most bat in Georgia, Chechnya, ago, apparently expecting world.” ficiency. The ratio of support
powerful armies. Syria and its annexation of a quick victory and grossly to combat units was increased
Crimea helping guide the misjudging Ukrainian resis- Xi, the son of a revolution- and a greater emphasis placed
China, like Russia, has been process. The Ukrainian inva- tance, Graham said. ary commander who spent on more mobile and amphib-
ambitiously reforming its sion, however, has exposed time in uniform himself, ious units.
Soviet-style military and ex- weaknesses from the top Putin’s decisions raise the began undertaking military
perts say leader Xi Jinping down. question of whether he was reforms in 2015, three years Xi has also sought to end
will be carefully parsing the given accurate assessments after assuming leadership of rampant corruption in the
weaknesses exposed by the Experts have been collective- of the progress of military the Central Military Com- military, going after two for-
ly stunned that Russia invad- reform and Ukrainian abili- mission. mer top generals shortly after
ed Ukraine with seemingly ties, or was just told what he taking power. One was sen-
little preparation and lack of wanted to hear. Total troop strength was re- tenced to life in prison and
focus — a campaign along duced by 300,000 to just un- the other died before his case
multiple, poorly-coordinated Xi, also an authoritarian lead- der 2 million, the number of was concluded.
axes that has failed to effec- er who has taken a personal officers cut by a third and a
tively combine air and land role in China’s military re- greater emphasis given to China’s military is highly
operations. form, could now be wonder- non-commissioned officers opaque and outside the pur-
ing the same, Fravel said. to lead in the field. view of civilian judges and
Soldiers have been running corruption investigators, so
out of food, and vehicles China has had no recent ma- China’s military has a tradi- it’s difficult to know how
have been breaking down. jor conflict by which to gauge tion of respect for initiative thoroughly the organization
With losses mounting, Mos- its military prowess, hav- from lower-ranking soldiers has been exorcised of prac-
cow has pulled its bloodied ing fought its last significant dating from its revolutionary tices such as the selling of
forces away from the capital, engagement in 1979 against origins, said Yue Gang, a Bei- commissions and kickbacks
Kyiv, to regroup. Last week, Vietnam, said David Chen, a jing-based military analyst. on defense contracts.
the guided-missile cruiser senior consultant with CEN- By contrast, Russian forces in