USAID boss to visit Ethiopia in push for aid access

The US aid agency (USAID) boss Samantha Power will next week visit Ethiopia to push for more aid to be allowed into conflict-hit Tigray region, the agency says.

Ms Power will meet government officials to seek a solution to the lack of humanitarian aid to those affected by the nine-month conflict.

On Thursday, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths started his visit to the country for a similar push.

He had said the humanitarian needs in Ethiopia had increased because of the conflict and ethnic clashes in other regions.

The UN World Food Programme said its supplies were running out as trucks couldn't get into the northern region because of the fighting.

There was an attack on the agency's convoy early this month.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Tigray are living in famine-like conditions.

This article was originally published by BBC News. [Photo: Reuters]