“People are fleeing in absolute fear in all directions,” said an aid worker in Afar, who asked not to be named. War erupted in Tigray in November 2020 and pits the Ethiopian government and its allies, including Afar forces, against forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which controls the region. The aid worker told Reuters that one of her colleagues had been killed in the fighting and two were missing. The aid worker said she did not believe Ethiopian soldiers were involved. The U.N. World Food Programme said last month that 9 million people need food aid across Tigray, Afar and Amhara regions as aid groups struggle to reach cut-off areas.
