Approximately 225 people, including children, have succumbed to starvation in Ethiopia’s drought-affected and conflict-ridden Tigray region since July of the previous year, according to local officials.
The majority of these deaths, amounting to 209, were reported in the rural area of Edga Arbi. An additional 16 individuals, displaced by a brutal two-year civil war that concluded in 2022, have also lost their lives due to hunger in another region.
Tigray officials had previously issued warnings about a potential famine, reminiscent of the one Ethiopia experienced in the mid-1980s, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children and adults. While regional authorities express concern, the federal government denies the imminent threat of famine and asserts its efforts to provide aid.
The United Nations reports that over 20 million people in Ethiopia need food assistance due to conflicts, drought, and flooding.
