Ethiopia: authorities deny famine in Tigray
Reception service for malnourished children, at Adigrat General Public Hospital, Tigray region, Ethiopia.
May 2021. © RFI / Sébastien Németh
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The head of the United Nations humanitarian agency believes that we can speak of famine in the Tigray region.
The region is experiencing record levels of malnutrition, seven months after the start of the civil war between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan rebels.
The figures are indeed catastrophic, but Addis Ababa absolutely refuses the use of the word famine, which could obviously increase the pressure on the government.
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With our correspondent in Addis Ababa
,
Noé Hochet-Bodin
It is a document which could well change the international attitude on the war in Tigray.
A United Nations study shows that out of 6 million Tigrayans, 350,000 have reached catastrophic levels of malnutrition.
Mark Lowcock prefers another term.
The UN humanitarian chief is indeed talking about famine.
Since then, the United States has been in the driver's seat on this issue.
After having sanctioned Ethiopia, Washington is now trying to bring the subject to the UN Security Council where Tigray should be at the center of the debates next Tuesday.
On the Ethiopian side, we know only too well the political power conferred by the word famine after the catastrophe of 1984, in the same province of Tigray, which had provoked a wave of international indignation.
Stuck in this war for seven months, the Ethiopian government refuses at all costs the use of the word and argues on the contrary that 90% of Tigrayans receive humanitarian aid.
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