Ethiopian Region of Tigray at 'Serious Risk' of Famine, Warns Top UN Official

A senior UN official warned the Security Council on Tuesday that urgent measures are needed to avoid famine in the war-torn region of Tigray in Ethiopia, in a briefing seen by AFP.

"There is a serious risk of famine if assistance is not scaled up in the next two months," wrote Mark Lowcock, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. More than six months after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched what he termed a "rapid" military operation, the fighting and abuses continue in Tigray, where the specter of a famine has been hovering for several months. "Concrete measures are urgently needed to break the vicious cycle between armed conflict, violence and food insecurity," said Lowcock in his two-and-a-half page note.