Famine in the warring region of Tigray is on its way to spreading to other parts of Ethiopia, a UN official warned on Tuesday (June 15) at a closed-door meeting of the Security Council, an assertion rejected by Ethiopia.
"The situation should worsen in the coming months, not only in Tigray but also in Afar and Amhara,"
UN Deputy Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock told the Council. speech obtained by AFP.
Read also: Ethiopia: in Tigray, the war awakens the specter of famine
The UN and NGOs estimate that more than 350,000 people in Tigray are in a famine situation, he recalled, adding that local administrative officials had started
"to report deaths due"
to this cause.
In addition to these 350,000 people,
"two million people in the regions of Tigray, Afar and Amhara"
are on the verge of falling into starvation in their turn, added Mark Lowcock.
After the Council session, in which he participated, the Ethiopian ambassador to the UN, Taye Atske Selassie Amde, stressed that his country refused to allow the UN body to debate Tigray, a subject that he said pertained to domestic politics.
"We categorically disagree with this assessment"
of the UN on famine, he told reporters, believing that the data collected by the Organization and NGOs have not been
"in such a way. transparent and inclusive ”
.
Read also: The specter of famine threatens the Tigray region
The last closed meeting of the Council on Tigray was on April 22. He then adopted a first unanimous declaration denouncing the abuses in this region of northern Ethiopia. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner, in November sent the federal army to Tigray to fight against the TPLF (Front for the Liberation of the People of Tigray), then in power locally and which challenged the central government. Abiy Ahmed had promised a short operation but the fighting continues and many reports point to atrocities, including widespread use of rape.