UN images of northern Ethiopia show a humanitarian crisis

NAIROBI, September 6 (Reuters) – Images of the war-torn northern Ethiopia released by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) on Monday reflect the serious humanitarian crisis in the aftermath. The United Nations warns that a de facto blockade on aid is bringing millions to the brink of starvation.

Ten months ago war broke out between Ethiopian federal troops and forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which controls the Tigray region. Thousands have died and more than two million people have been forced to flee their homes.

The United Nations last week called on all parties to the Tigray war to allow aid to move to the region, where it said 5.2 million people, or 90 percent of the population, urgently need help. humanitarian. Among them are 400,000 people who are already facing starvation conditions, he said. Read more

Prime Minister Billene Seyoum’s spokeswoman last week dismissed allegations that the Ethiopian government is blocking aid.

The images showed a distribution of emergency food aid by WFP on August 23 in the Asgede district, northwest of Tigray. Sacks of grain were loaded on camels and taken to the remote area, where many residents were cut off from outside assistance during months of war.

The supplies delivered that day were one of the last remaining stocks in the Tigray region, where no food or other humanitarian aid came in between August 20 and September 5. the population.

“At the moment we do not have food stocks to plan for or distribute,” said Satyen Tait, a staff member of WFP’s Ethiopian operation.

The spread of fighting in the Afar and Amhara regions has uprooted at least 300,000 people and more than 1.7 million in these two regions need food aid, according to the world body.

Report by Maggie Fick, edited by William Maclean

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