A top United Nations official said that over 400,000 people in Ethiopia’s Tigray were suffering famine and 1.8 million others were on the brink due to the eight-month conflict, where humanitarian access was extremely restricted.
In the first public meet on the crisis, the members of the UN Security Council said that 33,000 children were severely malnourished. The UN also warned about further clashes despite the declaration of a ceasefire.
The Ethiopian government had declared a unilateral ceasefire on Monday, the government that had been fighting the regional forces in Tigray. On Monday, the unilateral ceasefire declared by the Ethiopian government was dismissed as a joke by the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front).
Ramesh Rajasingham, the acting UN aid chief said to the council that the humanitarian situation in Tigray was worsened dramatically in recent weeks. He added that two million people were still displaced and required humanitarian assistance where the majority of people were women and children, due to the conflict there has been an alarming rise in food insecurity and hunger.
However, rebels vowed to drive their “enemies” from the region and there have been reports of sporadic clashes as pressure builds internationally for all sides in the conflict to pull back.
On Friday, Ramesh Rajasingham told the members of the security council that the situation in Tigray had deteriorated in the recent weeks.
However, the Ethiopian government had denied allegations that it had blocked aid after the Tigrayan rebels took control of much of the northern region this week earlier.
Addis Ababa, the Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi, said that the security situation in Tigray was complex and fluid, and the Tigrayan fighters would continue to gain the ground while the central government and Eritrean forces were withdrawing, and where the Ambara fighters said that they would not leave, whereas the civilians were suffering and suppressed in between.
In November last year, the fight began when the rebels rejected political reforms and had captured the army bases while the Government forces captured Mekelle a month later.
The rebels took over Mekelle and entered the town of the shire.
