Mereja Forum

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Millions face starvation as civil war rages in Tigray but only a small amount of supplies is getting through

By
Will Brown,
AFRICA CORRESPONDENT
18 October 2021

Ethiopia's Prime Minister has implied that he may stop international food aid from being delivered to the millions of people facing starvation in Tigray to decrease diplomatic pressure on the country.

"If we make sure that this thing called wheat [food aid] does not enter Ethiopia, 70 per cent of Ethiopia's problems will be solved," said Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in a statement reported by state-owned Ethiopia Television.

"Ethiopia's problem is wheat aid. With wheat aid comes diseases. With wheat aid comes many things, many consequences. If we stop it, many of the problems will be solved," the Nobel Peace Prize winner continued.

The news comes as airstrikes reportedly hit the Tigrayan regional capital of Mekelle amid a massive Ethiopian national army offensive to crush rebellious fighters and a de facto government aid blockade on the mountainous region.

Africa's second-most populous nation has been coming under mounting pressure from Western nations to bring an end to the horrific conflict which has been raging across its northern Tigray region in the shadows of mass communications blackouts for almost a year.

But while Addis Ababa has found itself increasingly isolated from the West and other African nations and slowly bankrupted by the conflict, it has found allies in Moscow and Beijing.

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