UN running out of food in Ethiopia’s Tigray region as 400,000 people face famine

The agency confirmed that no food trucks have been allowed into the region for two weeks.They told CNN in a statement that 100 trucks need to arrive every day in order to address the “vast humanitarian needs in the region,” and that the shortfall has left “400,000 people on the verge of famine.”The situation comes a week after forces from Thousands of people have died in the Tigray conflict so far, with about 2 million people being forced to flee their homes and more than 5 million relying on emergency food aid.And the situation is worsening as fighting continues. UNICEF estimated on Friday that more than 100,000 children in Tigray could suffer from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition in the next year, a tenfold increase compared to the average annual figure.”Our worst fears about the health and wellbeing of children in that conflicted region of northern Ethiopia are being confirmed,” UNICEF spokesperson Marixie Mercado said, adding that the aid organization made the calculations after reaching areas of Tigray that were previously inaccessible due to insecurity.”This malnutrition crisis is taking place amid extensive, systematic damage to the food, health, nutrition, water and sanitation systems and services that children and their families depend on for their survival,” Mercado said. “Reversing the nutrition, health, water and food security catastrophe requires a massive scale-up of humanitarian assistance.”A communications blackout in the region has made it difficult to determine the situation in Tigray and its capital Mekelle in recent months. But CNN reported earlier this month that food shortages in Mekelle were rife, and most homes had no access to running water.The Tigray conflict has raged since November when fighting erupted between the region’s ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian military. CNN has previously reported how Eritrean troops have killed, raped and blocked humanitarian aid to starving populations, more than a month after the country’s Nobel Peace Prize winning leader pledged to the international community that they would leave.