Famine Looms Over Ethiopia's Tigray as Conflict and Climate Crisis Strike

In the arid regions of Ethiopia's Tigray, a lamentable confluence of relentless conflict and an intensifying climate crisis is pushing the population to the edge of survival. Communities that once enjoyed the fruits of their labor in lush fields are now witnessing their children succumb to the grips of malnutrition.

At the Finarwa health center, Ada Arae Girmay encapsulates the heartrending state of the Tigrayan people. As a mother of 10, Girmay watches over her malnourished twins, Assefa and Metkel, their lives hanging by the thread of Ready-to-use Supplementary Food (RUSF) provided by the facility. The stark transformation from a farmer's life of self-sufficiency to one of dire dependency on aid paints a grim picture of Tigray’s plight.

The despair is palpable among the mothers at the health center, who rely on the same RUSF to keep their children alive. For the infants, this aid is not supplemental—it is essential, the only barrier between life and the encroaching shadow of death by starvation.

Tadesse Mehari, once a resident of Humera, exemplifies the internal displacement and disruptions caused by the conflict. As a displaced individual now settled in Mekelle, he found purpose amidst the chaos by serving as a health officer at Finarwa. Mehari's observations are bone-chilling—"People are starving. They are dying," he says, illustrating the humanitarian emergency at hand.

The remnants of war are visible in the ruins of once-leading health facilities like the Aydar hospital in Mekelle, which struggles to render even the most basic medical services. The desperation has leaked out to the district leaders’ offices as villagers, with hollow hopes and homes, seek any respite from their suffering.

The plight of 70-year-old farmer Haile Gebre Kirstos from the Messebo district showcases the impact of altered climate patterns on agrarian life. With fields that fail to flourish and livestock without sustenance, the desperation has forced Kirstos to commence plowing earlier, driven by the dread of a famine akin to the tragedy of the 1980s, which many still remember with horror.

The hunger crisis is a multifarious challenge, born from the destruction of a brutal two-year war that has disrupted farming and cut off access to vital resources such as fertilizers. Humanitarian aid efforts are thwarted by allegations of theft by Ethiopian authorities, prompting UN and USA assistance suspensions.

Complicating the crisis is the reported donations of grain reserves by residents to support Tigrayan fighters and the subsequent reported forced expropriation of grains and livestock by federal forces and their allies.

This crisis is further intensified by the strategic use of food—highlighted by international relations expert Edgar Githua, who underscores the Ethiopian government's purported use of food as a weapon. Such tactics are condemned under international humanitarian law, which strictly prohibits warfare methods that deliberately place civilians at risk.

The severity of the situation is now openly acknowledged, with the national ombudsman admitting to hundreds of starvation deaths in Tigray and Amhara regions. This rare admission serves as a clarion call for immediate international intervention to stave off the advancing humanitarian disaster.