Tens of thousands of malnourished children are at risk of dying in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, now affected by famine, the United Nations warned on Friday.
"Without humanitarian access to increase our aid, some 30,000 severely malnourished children in these extremely inaccessible areas are at great risk of dying," said James Elder, spokesperson for the United Nations Fund for Human Rights, in Geneva. childhood (Unicef).
UN humanitarian agencies warned on Thursday that millions of people in Tigray needed food aid, including 350,000 at risk of starvation, and denounced the blocking of aid by "armed groups". The United States and the European Union (EU), for their part, on Thursday launched an urgent call for action to combat the onset of this famine, on the eve of a summit of G7 leaders in the United Kingdom .
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military operation on November 4 against the Tigrayan authorities, from the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), in dissent vis-à-vis the central power.
Abiy Ahmed, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, had promised a swift campaign, but almost six months after the capture of the regional capital, Mekele, by the federal army, fighting continues in Tigray, where the humanitarian situation is critical alarms the international community.
World
Dozens dead at traditional festival in Ethiopia
People
The Weeknd donates $ 1 million to help Ethiopians affected by conflict in Tigray region
World
Unicef
Ethiopia
Famine
Civil war