Over 90 percent of people in war-hit Tigray need food aid

World Food Programme says hunger levels rising in northern Ethiopian region; appeals for $203m to scale up response.

A total of 5.2 million people in Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region, or 91 percent of its population, need emergency food aid, the United Nations has warned. The warning by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) came as it appealed for more than $200m to scale up its response in the northern region where nearly seven months of fighting has caused an increase in already high hunger levels. “WFP is alarmed at the impact of conflict on already high levels of hunger,” spokesman Tomson Phiri told reporters in Geneva. “We are deeply concerned at the number of people we see in need of nutrition support and emergency food assistance.”