A senior United Nations official warned on Friday that “the risk of atrocity crimes in Ethiopia remains high and likely to get worse” if the country does not urgently combat ethnic violence, stigmatization, hate speech and religious tensions.

The United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Ms. Alice Wairimu Nderitu, is alarmed by the continued escalation of ethnic violence in Ethiopia and allegations of serious violations of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights in the Tigray region.

Every day, more and more reports of starvation trickle out of the Tigray region of Ethiopia that has been hit by conflict.

UN says most of the troubled region remains ‘inaccessible’ for aid workers amid growing hunger due to ongoing fighting.

The UN renewed appeals on Friday for humanitarian access to all areas of Ethiopia’s troubled Tigray region to help people displaced fighting, forcing the most desperate to eat leaves to survive..

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council discussed the grave humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region on Wednesday as senior U.N. officials pressed the government for access to deliver aid to hundreds of thousands of people that humanitarian workers have been blocked from reaching.