Food aid was delivered to Eritrean refugees in camps in Ethiopia's troubled northern region of Tigray, the United Nations said Monday. Photo by Zerihun Sewunet/UNICEFDec. 28 (UPI) -- Some transportation lines in northern Ethiopia's troubled Tigray region have partially reopened, and about 25,000 Eritrean refugees sheltering in two camps have received food aid for the first time since mid-October, the United Nations announced Monday. Advertisement"Families, women, men, children -- even newborns -- have been cut off from supplies and essential services for many weeks, so this distribution was urgently needed," Ann Encontre, Ethiopian spokeswoman for the United Nations Refugee Agency, said in a statement. The Tigray region was attacked in November by federal Ethiopian forces under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in an attempt to oust the leaders of the Tigray People's Liberation Front. The military conflict caused a mass migration of more than 54,500 refugee civilians across the border to Sudan, and caused general lawlessness, including the deaths of civilians, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday.

Source: Ethiopian News December 28, 2020 19:18 UTC