According to the United Nations, the last food rations for malnourished children and starving adults in northern Ethiopia are running out.

The World Food Program (WFP) has been unable to deliver since December due to intense fighting in the Tigray region. We are on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, WFP East Africa director Michael Dunford said on Friday.

The government in Addis Ababa protested against criticism from the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. He had described the conditions there as hell and accused the government of deliberately withholding food and medicines from the approximately seven million people in Tigray with a blockade. The government has accused Tedros, who is from the region, of meddling in internal affairs, inflating the suffering population and being a member of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

Reports of attacks on civilians in Tigray

The bloody conflict began in November 2020. The central government, which had come into office two years earlier, wanted to oust the TPLF, which rules in Tigray. This had previously dominated all of Ethiopia. The multi-ethnic state in East Africa with 115 million inhabitants is in danger of collapsing as a result of the fighting.

According to the WFP, 9.4 million people in Tigray and neighboring regions are in need of food aid. People in other parts of Ethiopia are also dependent on help, but the WFP soon lacked the financial means to be able to help.

The UN Human Rights Office reported on Friday in Geneva that Ethiopian military attacks had caused severe destruction in Tigray. At least 108 people have died there since the beginning of the year. On Monday alone, 17 people, mostly women, were killed in a drone attack on a mill. The human rights office called on the government to comply with international law and protect civilians from attacks.

dpa-infocom, dpa:220114-99-711250/2