United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has warned Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces that refugees in the Tigray region may soon run out of food, if humanitarian access is not provided in the coming days.
UNHCR on Friday requested access for the provision of food supplies to refugees. Some UN officials are still in Tigray, where there are presently 96,000 refugees.
“They would be running out of food as of Monday – we are ready with our supplies trying to reach these populations,” UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch told a Geneva briefing. He said the supplies may be exhausted by next week, based on their estimates.
“What is needed is unhindered humanitarian access to reach them as soon as possible,” he added.
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Other than the refugees in Tigray, 43,000 others have fled to neighbouring Sudan.
Ethiopian and Tigrayan forces have been at loggerheads since the 4th of November. Offensives and counter-offensives have been launched between both parties and threats have continued to reign supreme.
African envoys and the UN have attempted to wade into the conflict, with no success recorded so far.
The TPLF is the group in control of the Tigray region – arguably the most powerful in the country, having produced the nation’s Prime Minister for 27 years prior to the emergence of Abiy Ahmed.