Food access ‘becomes a weapon of war’
Food access is being turned into a weapon of war as hundreds of thousands of people in Ethiopia's troubled Tigray region face famine, reporters have claimed. The UN and other humanitarian groups have warned that more than 350,000 people could be at risk.
Food access is being turned into a weapon of war as hundreds of thousands of people in Ethiopia's troubled Tigray region face famine, reporters have claimed.
The United Nations and other humanitarian groups have warned that more than 350,000 people could be at risk of famine in the war-torn area.
Associated Press reporters have found that the issue is not just a matter of people starving - it is that many are being deliberately starved.
In rural areas in Tigray, farmers, aid workers and local officials confirmed that Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers are blocking food aid and even stealing it.
Meanwhile, an AP team observed convoys with food and medical aid being turned back by Ethiopian military officials as fighting resumed in the town of Hawzen.
The soldiers are also accused of stopping farmers from harvesting or ploughing, stealing the seeds for planting, killing livestock and looting farm equipment. More than two million of Tigray's six million people have already fled, unable to harvest their crops. And those who stayed often cannot plant new crops or till the land because they fear for their lives.
One humanitarian worker in the area said: "If things don't change soon, mass starvation is inevitable. This is a manmade disaster."
The full extent of the hunger is hard to pin down because officials - and food aid - still cannot get into the remotest parts of a region known for its rugged inaccessibility even in the best of times.
The UN World Food Programme said on Thursday it had transported aid to 1.4 million people in Tigray, "barely half of the number we should be reaching", in part because armed groups are blocking the way.
For every mother who makes it out of the area, hundreds, possibly thousands, are trapped behind the front lines or military roadblocks in rural areas.
"Most of the malnourished children, they die there," said
Dr Kibrom Gebreselassie, chief medical director of Ayder Hospital in Mekele. "This is the tip of the iceberg."
The war in Tigray started in early November, shortly before the harvest season, as an attempt by Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed to disarm the region's rebellious leaders.
On one side are guerrillas loyal to the ousted and nowfugitive leaders of Tigray.
On the other are Ethiopian government troops, allied troops from neighbouring Eritrea and militias from the Amhara ethnic group. Trapped in the middle are the civilians of Tigray.
The war has spawned massacres, gang rapes and the widespread expulsion of people from their homes, and the United States has declared "ethnic cleansing" has taken place in western Tigray. Now, on top of those atrocities, Tigrayans face another urgent problem: hunger and starvation.
The deputy chief of the region, Abebe Gebrehiwot, echoed the assessment of ethnic cleansing and said combatants are blocking food aid from reaching those who need it. He said the region's interim administration, appointed by Mr Abiy, is desperately trying to forestall a famine.