Humanitarian situation in Tigray deteriorating - UNHCR

Concern over the well being of the people in Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray continues.

Earlier this week, the rebel Tigray Defence Force entered the region's capital, Mekelle.

The near-eight months of fighting have left more the five million people in need of food aid and some 350,000 living in famine conditions according to a UN-backed estimate.

The withdrawal of Ethiopian federal forces and their unilateral humanitarian ceasefire has not yet altered the situation for those in need.

The head of the UN's refugee agency says that the "humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate".

The government has denied allegations that it’s blocking aid from reaching the needy.

“The insinuation that we are trying to suffocate the Tigrayan people by denying humanitarian access and using hunger as a weapon of war is beyond the pale,” Foreign Minister Demeke Mekenen said on Friday briefing diplomats.

His deputy Redwan Hussien told journalists that his government is willing to help the UN fly in aid from the capital, Addis Ababa, to the two airports in Tigray, but added that it will not take responsibility for what will happen once the UN is in the region.

The Reuters news agency is quoting the emergency co-ordinator for the UN's World Food Programme as saying that aid deliveries could soon resume and 40,000 of those in need may be reached over the weekend.

"The fact is that people have died, people are dying and more people will die if we are not allowed the ability to prevent it from happening and provide assistance," Tommy Thompson told a meeting in Geneva on a satellite phone from Mekelle.

This article originally appeared on BBC News

Photo: AFP