WHO Chief, Adhnom Ghebreyesus says family starving in Tigray as fresh clashes kill several people

The World Health Organization’s Director-general, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, has revealed that he can not ascertain the whereabouts of his family members as fightings re-ignited in Ethiopia’s war-ravaged Tigray region.

In a press conference, the WHO boss said he has many relatives in the troubled region whom he cannot send money to. He added that he does not know who is dead or who is alive among his family members.

Dr. Tedros earlier on Wednesday said the situation in his hometown, Tigray, was worse than that in Ukraine and suggested that racism was behind the difference in the global response.

Fighting resumed this week after months of calm following a truce agreed in March between Tigrayan forces and the Ethiopian government to allow aid to get through.

Air strikes on the region’s capital killed four people on Friday, including two children, in renewed clashes.

Tigray has been cut off from the outside world, with no electricity or phones since the violent conflict began two years ago.

The Tigray war broke out in Ethiopia’s far northern region in November 2020 – later spreading south to the Amhara and Afar regions.

According to the US officials, thousands have been killed, over two million people fled their homes and some 700,000 people were left living in “famine-like conditions”.