About 350,000 people in Ethiopia’s conflict-torn Tigray region are facing “catastrophic” food shortages, according to an analysis by United Nations agencies and aid groups. If the conflict deepens or humanitarian assistance is hampered, most areas of Tigray will be at risk of famine, it said. Even if aid deliveries are stepped up, the situation is expected to worsen through September. Ahead of the report’s release on Thursday, Mituku Kassa, head of Ethiopia’s National Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Committee, said a declaration of famine would be incorrect. He accused the TPLF of attacking aid convoys. Fighting in Tigray broke out in November between government troops and the region’s former ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Troops from neighboring Eritrea entered the conflict to support the Ethiopian government. The violence has killed thousands of civilians and forced more than 2 million from their homes in the mountainous region.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA