The UN Security Council has warned of imminent famine in the war-torn Tigray region of Ethiopia, as more than 20% of the area’s population is already facing food insecurity.
In a review, Mark Lowcock, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Coordinator, said “there is a serious risk of famine if aid is not scaled up in the next two months” and warned the Security Council that urgent action is needed. to avoid disaster.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops to Tigray in early November to disarm and detain leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). He said the move came in response to TPLF attacks on federal army camps. More than six months later, Lowcock said, fighting and abuse continue in Tigray, where famine has hovered for months.
“Urgent concrete action is needed to break the vicious circle between armed conflict, violence and food insecurity,” Lowcock said in his 2 1/2 page note Tuesday.
“I urge members of the Security Council and other Member States to take all possible measures to prevent famine from occurring,” he said. “Today, at least 20% of the population in that area is facing food insecurity in emergencies,” he said, adding that “destruction and violence against civilians continue even now across the Tigray.”
“In the 6 1/2 months since the conflict began in Tigray in early November 2020, an estimated 2 million people have been displaced. Civilians are killed and injured,” he added. “Rape and other forms of heinous sexual violence are widespread and systematic. Public and private infrastructure and objects necessary for civilian survival have been destroyed, including hospitals and farmland,” he warned.
The UN official estimated that “over 90% of the harvest was lost due to looting, burning or other destruction, and that 80% of the cattle in the region were looted or slaughtered.”
The government blames the TPLF
“Despite improvements in March and government cooperation at the local level, humanitarian access has generally deteriorated recently,” Lowcock wrote. “Humanitarian operations are being attacked, prevented or delayed in delivering life-saving aid. Eight aid workers have been killed in Tigray in the past six months.”
Abiy’s government has said it has pledged to investigate human rights abuses and that it has granted “full and unhindered” access to aid workers. In a series of Twitter posts on Tuesday night, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry blamed TPLF in part for disruptions in aid.
“Remnants” of the group have “killed humanitarian workers, truck drivers & looted food & non-foodstuffs that were to be delivered to the people in need,” it said.
The ministry also said the government had covered the bulk of food aid supplies “but it is still under attack from some corners who have been reluctant to provide concrete aid.”
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