The two year-long war and the failure in agricultural production due to drought, locusts, and nonseasonal rain caused famine in Tigray regional state, northern Ethiopia and humanitarian crisis could happen unless immediate measures are taken, Ethiopian Insight reported.

Tigray Regional Administration Interim Chief Getachew Reda recently said that over 90 percent of the region’s population faced lack of food.

He warns the worsening humanitarian crisis risks escalating to levels unseen since the 1984 Ethiopian famine unless immediate measures are taken.

Evaluating various reports, Ethiopian Insight stated that “the extent of malnutrition, starvation, and devastation of health facilities that have created an imminent threat to millions of lives.”

Tigray isn’t the only region affected, as Ethiopia’s Disaster Risk Management Commission (EDRMC) and Food Cluster reported on 10 January that four million people in drought-affected Tigray, Afar, Amhara, South Ethiopia, and South West regions urgently need food assistance, the report says.

The report also indicated that Ethiopia’s federal government has not yet officially declared the crisis as a famine.

Accusations between Tigray Interim Regional Administration (TIRA) and the federal government have been heard since 29 December following the TIRA’s appeal to avert the unfolding famine, the report recalls.

It was in November 2022 that the genocidal war on Tigray that the Ethiopian government and its allies waged using a lengthy and comprehensive siege officially ended with the signing of a Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in Pretoria, South Africa, Ethiopian Insight mentioned.

It noted that the famine in Tigray is exacerbated by the ongoing war and drought in neighbouring Amhara region, and the capacity of humanitarian agencies to respond effectively has been strained by other crises in the region, notably in Sudan.

The report suggested providing immediate humanitarian aid, applying international pressure to persuade the Ethiopian government to acknowledge the famine and do all the best, rehabilitating healthcare infrastructure and implementing sustainable solutions to avert humanitarian crisis in the region.