Several areas in Tigray are on the brink of famine, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said.
“The situation will only keep getting worse unless funding is increased and humanitarian access is improved. The actions we take now may mean the difference between life and death for many people,” he tweeted on Tuesday.
Late last month, the United Nations’ top humanitarian official warned that urgent measures are needed to avoid famine in Ethiopia’s embattled region of Tigray, during the UN Security Council meeting.
“There is a serious risk of famine if assistance is not scaled up in the next two months,” Mark Lowcock, had said..
Now in its seventh month, the conflict in Tigray is estimated to have killed thousands of people and left some five million in need of aid.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered a ground and air military operation in Tigray in early November 2020 after accusing the northern region’s then-ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), of orchestrating attacks on federal army camps.
The TPLF, which dominated national politics for decades until Abiy came to power in 2018, said federal forces and its longtime foe Eritrea launched a “coordinated attack” against it.
MG/abj/APA