STARVATION CRIME

Ethiopia: Looming famine in Tigray is the making of ‘starvation crimes’ says report by WPF

By Patrick Smith

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Posted on April 9, 2021 14:52

Ethiopia New Exodus © People displaced by the recent conflict gather around water points provided by the International Rescue Committee at a makeshift camp for the displaced in Embadanso school in Shire, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021. (International Rescue Committee via AP)
People displaced by the recent conflict gather around water points provided by the International Rescue Committee at a makeshift camp for the displaced in Embadanso school in Shire, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021. (International Rescue Committee via AP)

Without an end to the fighting in Tigray, its people will face starvation more devastating than the “biblical famine” that tore through the region in the 1980s, according to a heavily-detailed survey by researchers from the US-based World Peace Foundation.

They report, in graphic detail, on the systematic destruction of farms and factories across the Tigray region, targeting civilians directly, far beyond what Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has called a “law enforcement” operation against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) regional government last November.

If the current offensive continues, led by Ethiopian federal troops and Eritrean forces against the remnants of the ousted TPLF, at least 4.5 million people will face deadly shortages of food, medicine and water, Alex de Waal, executive director of the WPF tells The Africa Report.

LISTEN Famine in Tigray: ‘I have never documented anything as relentless & systematic as what we’re seeing

“Over the next six weeks to two months, it’s essential that the majority of the Tigrayan people who are small holder farmers are able to cultivate, because the rains come in June and in the month or

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