Tigray could face famine without increased access to region, US aid official says

As the humanitarian crisis continues in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, the US Agency for International Development is warning that the area could face famine if aid organizations are not granted unfettered access to the millions in urgent need of assistance.

Emily Dakin, a top USAID official working on the ground in Tigray, told CNN this week that it is estimated that "somewhere between 950,000 to 1.25 million people are inaccessible to humanitarians." The United States and the United Nations have reacted with concern to the deepening humanitarian crisis and conflict on the ground in the region where thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed since November, when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military operation against the region's ruling Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).