NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a call with Ethiopian Prime Minister on Thursday expressed “serious concern” about the crisis in the fighting Tigray region and an immediate, complete and unhindered humanitarian access called for further loss of life, “said a U.S. spokesman.
There were no immediate comments from Ethiopian officials.
The call is the latest this week held by world leaders with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, while Ethiopia is under increasing pressure to open Tigray to journalists, independent investigators and much more humanitarian aid.
The Tigray conflict, which entered its fourth month, remains largely in the shadows. Thousands of people have been killed as Ethiopian and Allied forces fight against the now-fledged Tigray government, which once ruled the country for nearly three decades. Most of the 6 million population needs first aid.
Abiy also spoke this week with the French president and German chancellor, whose governments have expressed similar wishes over the opening of Tigray.
Starvation has become a major concern in Tigray. “It is expected that many households have already depleted their food supplies, or are expected to deplete their food supplies in the next two months,” according to a new report from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, funded and managed by the US.
According to the report on Thursday, more parts of central and eastern Tigray will enter emergency phase 4, a step under famine, in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the United Nations humanitarian chief told the UN Security Council privately that Ethiopia may not control up to 40% of the territory in Tigray and that it does not control the forces of neighboring Eritrea working there.
The details of Mark Lowcock’s briefing were shared by diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because Wednesday’s meeting was closed.
Available information indicates that Ethiopia’s government now controls 60% to 80% of the territory in Tigray, Lowcock told diplomats. And some of the forces that joined the Ethiopians earlier in the conflict are reportedly now pursuing their own goals, he said.
Ethiopia’s government has denied the presence of soldiers from Eritrea, a bitter enemy of former Tigray leaders, but witnesses have widely looted, killed and described other abuses.
“Eritrean forces are almost everywhere in Tigray,” one man who managed to travel from northern Tigray to the regional capital of Mekele told The Associated Press this week. He describes widespread looting of health centers and people dying due to lack of care, with little or no communication or transport connections to rural areas. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to concerns about family members.
A senior official in the Tigray Interim Government, Mesfin Desalegn, said in an interview with the Abbay Media pro-government this week that Eritrean soldiers had entered the conflict to destroy the Tigray forces, but it had to be managed. It had to be controlled. ‘
People were ‘killed’, he said, describing an atmosphere of ‘complete vengeance’. He called on the Eritrean forces to ‘stop what they are doing’.
The US told the AP last month that it had pressured senior Eritrean officials to withdraw their forces from Tigray immediately. The US did not say how Eritrea, one of the world’s most mysterious countries, would react. The Eritrean Minister of Information has denounced ‘insane defamation campaigns’ over the past few days.
The fighting in Tigray has the potential to destabilize other parts of Ethiopia, the second most populous country in Africa and the anchor of the Horn of Africa, as security forces are deployed to the region, the UN’s humanitarian chief told the Security Council.
Lowcock also said the UN had received reports that food was scarce in markets, especially since it was harvest time when the conflict began. The main supply routes continue to be cut, cash is scarce and some people apparently eat leaves to survive.
The Ethiopian government said it was reaching more and more people with help, and they told private officials of the Biden government that life was ‘normal’ again.
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Leader of the United Nations reported.