The harvest is lost. Famine does not announce itself.

Re: Prolonged war and its impacts on the Amhara region of Ethiopia

Dear Sir or Madam,

Eight months into the military campaign against the Amhara regional state, the humanitarian consequences are compounding at a pace that demands urgent international attention. We write to document what is happening on the ground — beyond the immediate violence — and to call for action before the window for prevention closes entirely.

The agricultural season has been destroyed. The belg rains season — the secondary agricultural cycle on which millions of smallholder farmers depend — has been disrupted by military operations, mass displacement, and the systematic confiscation of livestock. According to analysts at the Crisis Group and agricultural monitoring bodies, significant portions of the Amhara region face sharply reduced yields for the second consecutive year. A region that was food-secure five years ago now faces acute food insecurity.

Displacement has reached catastrophic levels. Conflict-driven displacement in the Amhara region — already among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa — continues to accelerate. Internally displaced persons are concentrated in areas with limited humanitarian access. Many cannot return to their land because their homes have been destroyed or occupied.

Health infrastructure has been severely degraded. Hospitals and health centres have been damaged or closed. Medical personnel have been killed or displaced. Amnesty International and Médecins Sans Frontières have both documented the deterioration of healthcare access in conflict-affected zones.

The communications blackout compounds everything. With the internet and telecommunications blackout still in effect across large parts of the region, humanitarian organisations cannot assess needs, cannot coordinate response, and cannot reach affected communities. Families cannot locate missing relatives. Survivors cannot call for help.

The international community has the tools to act:

1. Emergency humanitarian corridor: call on the Ethiopian government to open secure humanitarian corridors to the Amhara region and to permit unfettered access for UN agencies and international NGOs;
2. Agricultural emergency funding: mobilise emergency agricultural support — seeds, tools, livestock replacement — before the main rains season begins;
3. Diplomatic pressure: condition continued development finance and budgetary support on measurable improvement in humanitarian access;
4. End the blackout: publicly call for the immediate restoration of internet and telecommunications services throughout the Amhara region.

The famine indicators are present. The window to act is narrowing. History will judge whether the international community chose to act before the crisis became irreversible.

Yours faithfully,

Federation of Amhara Associations in Europe