More than 400,000 people in Ethiopia's Tigray region face famine now, UN says
- A further 1.8 million people in the conflict-torn region are also on the brink, the UN Security Council has been told
- Humanitarian access is restricted, with returning Tigray forces not agreeing to a halt to hostilities with the government
The United Nations said on Friday that more than 400,000 people in Ethiopia’s crisis-wracked Tigray region are now facing the worst global famine in decades and 1.8 million are on the brink, and warned that despite the government’s unilateral ceasefire there is serious potential for fighting in western Tigray.
The dire UN reports to the first open meeting of the UN Security Council since the conflict in Tigray began last November painted a devastating picture of a region where humanitarian access is extremely restricted and 5.2 million people need aid. Also, Tigray forces that returned to their capital Mekele after the government’s June 28 ceasefire and exit from the region have not agreed to the halt to hostilities.
UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo urged the Tigray Defence Force “to endorse the ceasefire immediately and completely”, stressing that the UN’s immediate concern is to get desperately need aid to the region.
Acting UN humanitarian chief Ramesh Rajasingham said the situation in Tigray “has worsened dramatically” in the past two-and-a-half weeks, citing “an alarming rise in food insecurity and hunger due to conflict” with the number of people crossing the threshold to famine increasing from 350,000 to 400,000. With 1.8 million a step away, he said, some suggest “the numbers are even higher”.
“The lives of many of these people depend on our ability to reach them with food, medicine, nutrition supplies and other humanitarian help,” he said. “And we need to reach them now. Not next week. Now.”