Addis Abeba — A member of the House of Peoples’ Representatives, Menahl Imiran, has stated that the closure of the road connecting the Benishangul-Gumuz and Oromia regions due to security issues has exposed residents to significant social and economic hardships.
During a discussion with residents of District Two in Assosa town, which she represents, Menahl noted that the road has been closed for years, causing various social and economic problems for the city’s inhabitants.
“The road has been unable to provide transportation services for the past few years due to security problems, which is causing social and economic pressure on residents of both regions,” she said, according to information from the House of Peoples’ Representatives.
Local media reported that residents said that since public transport between Assosa and Addis Abeba has been suspended for the past seven years, only those who can afford it have been relying on air transport to travel to the capital for various matters. They added that vehicles transporting grain and other goods from central Ethiopia are unable to reach as required due to road closures, resulting in shortages of commodities and price hikes.
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In addition to the road issue, the MP announced that “due to the lack of a referral hospital in the region, residents are traveling to neighboring regions and as far as Addis Ababa, incurring high costs.” Based on this, she requested that a referral hospital be built at the regional level.
According to the local media report patients referred from Assosa Hospital for specialized treatment in Addis Abeba or neighboring regions are also unable to travel because of the road closure, leading to worsening health conditions, according to residents. They explained that in the absence of public transport, referred patients are forced to pay as much as 25,000 birr just for a round-trip plane ticket to Addis Ababa.
The conflict in the bordering area of the two regions saw escalation in recent months. June More than 11,000 people have been displaced in recent days due to armed violence in the border areas of Oromia and Benishangul-Gumuz regions, according to the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) and its partners. In its situation report, DG ECHO stated that the displacement was triggered by armed conflict “fuelled by political and ethnic divisions,” which it said is continuing to escalate along the regional border.
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