Ethiopia’s Tigray at ‘serious risk of famine, 90% need emergency food aid

Ethiopia's war-hit Tigray region is facing emergency food insecurity and this condition can pose a serious risk of famine if assistance is not scaled up in the next two months, senior UN officials have warned.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray in early November to disarm and detain leaders of the regional ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). The move came in response to TPLF attacks on federal army camps. More than six months later, the fighting and abuses continue in Tigray, where the spectre of famine has been hovering for several months.

Over 90 per cent of people in Ethiopia's troubled northern Tigray region need emergency food aid, the United Nations said Tuesday, as it appealed for $203 million to scale up its response.

"A total of 5.2 million people, equivalent to 91 per cent of Tigray's population, need emergency food assistance due to the conflict," World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman Tomson Phiri said in Geneva.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered 315,000 emergency nutrition rations to children and women since February in 31 woredas. In May, WFP reached almost 100,000 children and pregnant or nursing women in all zones except for Western.

WFP is responsible for emergency food assistance across Northwestern and Southern zones of Tigray.

The U.N. official estimated that "over 90% of the harvest was lost due to looting, burning, or other destruction, and that 80% of the livestock in the region were looted or slaughtered."

(With inputs from agencies)