NAIROBI (Somaliguardian) – The United Nations has confirmed on Wednesday that military forces are blocking aid to many parts of Ethiopia’s Tigray region where hundreds of thousands of people are on the brink of starvation after CNN investigation revealed that Eritrean forces were cutting off aid routes.
CNN reported that a group of its journalists traveling through Tigray’s central zone saw Eritrean troops, some wearing Ethiopian army uniforms to hide their identity, blocking aid to starving populations in the war-wrecked region weeks after Ethiopian government said they had begun to withdraw.
In a statement, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said “blockades by military forces” had severely obstructed the ability for humanitarian aid to reach rural areas where hunger haunts thousands of people.
“Of the three million people targeted to receive emergency shelter and non-food items, only 347,000 people, that is about 12 per cent, had been reached since May. With the start of the rainy season, our humanitarian colleagues warn that it is critical that aid agencies can provide minimal dignified shelter for the displaced,” the statement added.
More than 5.2 million people out of 5.7 million in Tigray are in need of emergency food assistance, according to the United Nations and the Ethiopian government.
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