UN experts have estimated that some 350,000 people in the Ethiopian Tigris region are starving and that most of the region’s 5.5 million people need food aid.
UN agencies have noted that the food crisis in the Tigris region has been the worst since the famine that claimed the lives of a quarter of a million people, mostly children, in Somalia between 2010 and 2012.
During a virtual meeting of the G7, UN Head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNOCHA) emphasized that famine is already raging in the Tigris region and warned that the situation would worsen, but that the worst could be avoided by immediate action.
UN agencies warned on Thursday that two more people could die of starvation quickly if nothing was done to prevent it.
Lovko said several UN agencies trying to help lack funds.
David Bysley, executive director of the UN Food Program, said many people, especially in rural areas, could not be helped because the roads were blocked by armed groups.
UN agencies have emphasized their readiness to deliver aid, but must first gain access to the region.
Ethiopia launched a military operation in the Tigrai region in November in an effort to mitigate the influence of the Tigrai People’s Liberation Front (TTAF), which governs the region and is critical of the central government.
The government announced in early December that the conflict, in which Eritrea was involved, was over, but the clashes continued.
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