UN chief makes strong appeal for 'immediate' end to fighting in Ethiopia

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday made his "strongest possible appeal for all parties in Ethiopia for an immediate cessation of hostilities".

"This can allow for effective humanitarian access and relief to all affected populations throughout Ethiopia," he told reporters.

More than a third of the people in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region “are suffering an extreme lack of food,” the United Nations World Food Program said in a recent assessment of a region. 

“Families are exhausting all means to feed themselves, with three-quarters of the population using extreme coping strategies to survive,” the WFP said, referring to increases in begging and relying on just one meal a day. 

A conflict between Ethiopia's government and forces in its northern Tigray region has thrown the north African country into turmoil.

Fighting has been going on since November 2020, leaving thousands of people dead with hundreds of thousands living in famine conditions.