NAIROBI (AFP) - Tigrayan rebels on Friday (Dec 10) denied having looted any food stocks, including items for malnourished children, in the northern Ethiopian town of Kombolcha. The denial came a day after UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the World Food Programme (WFP) had suspended food distribution after "massive looting of warehouses in Kombolcha in recent days, apparently by some Tigrayan rebels and members of the local population". Instead, the TPLF accused "UN agencies, and particularly the WFP" of having "dragged its feet" in distributing humanitarian aid. The Tigrayan rebels claim to have left these towns as part of strategic withdrawals. The UN estimates that 5.2 million people are in need of emergency food aid in Tigray, 534,000 in Afar and 3.7 million in Amhara.

Source: Ethiopian News December 11, 2021 02:14 UTC