ADDIS ABABA, 1 February 2021 – The international community is failing in its duty to protect millions of desperate people in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has accused.
Part of the difficulty is linked to the fact that Ethiopian authorities are restricting access to Tigray for aid workers, according to Jan Egeland, head of NRC.

NRC Boss Jan Egeland – Photo UN Dispatch
Urgent humanitarian assistance is being prevented from reaching people in Tigray, in the central and western parts of Ethiopia, as well as refugee camps in neighboring Sudan, according to Egeland.
Hundreds of thousands of people are facing starvation in Tigray, according to notes taken during a needs assessment by an official of the Tigray caretaker government put in place after the ousting of the former Tigray leadership.
Over two million people have been internally displaced by the war in Tigray which started last November 4.
Another 60,000 people have been driven into refugee camps in neighboring Sudan.