Ethiopia: USAID sounds the alarm on the food crisis 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

For the first time since the start of the war, the province of Tigray will find itself without food stocks.

It was the director of USAID, the American humanitarian agency, who sounded the alarm.

The food crisis has only worsened for two months and the blockade imposed by the Ethiopian government on Tigray and its six million inhabitants.

For its part, Addis Ababa once again opposed these statements. 

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With our correspondent in Addis Ababa,

Noé Hochet-Bodin

Already at the end of June, the United States was concerned about the extent of malnutrition in Tigray.

Washington estimated the number of

Tigrayans facing famine

at 900,000

.

Almost two months later, and while the food convoys are struggling to reach the province, it is now the food stocks located in Tigray that are running out.

The food shortages are not related to a lack of capacity, but because the government is preventing the delivery of convoys,

 " said the director of the US humanitarian agency.

An accusation relayed by several humanitarian sources in Addis Ababa, who suspect the government of voluntarily blocking the convoys for administrative matters. 

100,000 children at risk of death from malnutrition, according to the UN

According to the spokesperson for the Prime Minister, the government is not blocking the humanitarian effort but is thinking in priority of the security of the convoys,

Except that less than 10% of the planned aid has reached Tigray since June.

The UN assures that the consequences will be dramatic, with 100,000 children who could die of malnutrition.

►Also read: Ethiopia: the authorities deny the famine in Tigray

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  • Ethiopia

  • United States