UNITED NATIONS, June 24 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations is concerned about conflict spreading in western Ethiopia and drought affecting 8 million people across the country, a UN spokesman said on Friday.
Conflict in the west of sprawling Oromia, Benishangul-Gumuz on the border with Sudan and The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region have caused significant displacement, damaged infrastructure, and hampered humanitarian response, said Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Overall more than 500,000 people are estimated to be displaced by conflict in western Oromia, he said.
The severe drought in Ethiopia also affects some areas hit by the conflict in southern Oromia and Afar regions, he told a regular briefing.
He said more than 4.5 million people received assistance in drought-affected areas.
"Across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, at least 18.4 million people are already waking each day to high levels of acute food insecurity and rising malnutrition, as the region faces the impact of four consecutive failed rainy seasons, a climactic event not seen in the last 40 years," Dujarric said. "Humanitarian partners urgently need additional funding to respond to the rapidly increasing needs in the coming months."
Across the conflict-torn northernmost Tigray region and its neighbors of Afar and Amhara, about 13 million people need food and other assistance, the spokesman said.
"Since the convoys to the Tigray region resumed at the start of April, the United Nations and NGO (nongovernmental organization) partners have brought in more than 120,000 tons of food and other supplies and more than 1.3 million people have received food assistance," he said. "However, the pace of distribution remains limited by the availability of fuel."
Dujarric said humanitarians brought approximately 987,000 liters of fuel into Tigray since April, but an estimated 2 million liters per month is required to distribute the incoming supplies.
The United Nations and NGO partners, and the government, continue to supply critical food and other assistance to people affected by conflict in Amhara and Afar, he said. ■
