World Tour - Famine in Tigray

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Ohikere.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia deepens—We start today here in Africa.

AUDIO: [Sounds of cheering, car horns]

Residents of Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region celebrated last week as government forces withdrew from the region. That allowed local militia fighters to retake territory they had previously lost.

But the celebrations were short-lived.

Two key bridges leading into the region have been destroyed, making it even more difficult for humanitarian groups to deliver aid. The United Nations says more than 400,000 people now face the worst global famine in decades.

Tommy Thompson is emergency coordinator for the World Food Programme.

THOMPSON: I mean, the fact is that people have died, people are dying, and more people will die if we're not allowed the ability to prevent it from happening. And to provide assistance. So some of the pinch in our ability to supply right now is going to have a terrible, terrible impact.

The Ethiopian government denied using famine as a weapon of war. Demeke Mekonnen Hassen is deputy prime minister.

HASSEN: The insinuation that we are trying to suffocate the Tigrayan people by denying humanitarian access and using hunger as a weapon of war is beyond the pale. There is absolutely no reason for us to do so.

On Saturday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was deeply concerned about the situation.

GUTERRES: It is essential to have a real ceasefire, and a real ceasefire paving the way for a dialogue able to bring a political solution to Tigray. The presence of foreign troops is an aggravating factor of confrontation. And at the same time, full humanitarian access and unrestricted humanitarian access must be guaranteed to the whole territory. And the destruction of civilian infrastructure is totally unacceptable.

The conflict in Tigray began eight months ago. That’s when Ethiopian government forces and troops from neighboring Eritrea launched an attack on a local militia group. The government declared a cease-fire last week, but the Tigray Defense Force has not agreed to it.

Military transport plane crashes in the Philippines—Next we go to Southeast Asia.

AUDIO: [Sounds of crackling, popping, voices]

Military investigators in the Philippines are trying to figure out what caused a transport plane to crash on a remote island. Fifty people died, including three civilians.

Major General Edgard Arevalo [ah-RAV-ah-low] is a military spokesman.

AREVALO: First I’d like to tell you that the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) mourns deeply the incident that took the lives of 47 of our soldiers, most of them fresh graduates from military training and supposed to be deployed to the 11th Infantry Division based in Jolo, Sulu that runs after and combats the terrorist Abu Sayyaf group in this part of the region.

It was the worst military crash in the country’s history. The military bought the C-130 from the United States earlier this year. Arevalo said it was in “very good condition” before the crash.

Heatwave sparks fires in Canada—And finally, we end today in North America.

MELANSON: Alright, so it looks like the fire went out over the mountain, and it’s about to get everyone who’s stuck on that side of the mountain. Me and my dog just got out but we can see the house literally on fire as I was leaving. I didn’t even have time to lock the door.

This woman was one of about 1,000 people forced to flee their homes in the Canadian town of Lytton last week. A raging wildfire destroyed the town located about 95 miles northeast of Vancouver.

Canada is battling the same heat wave that has gripped Washington state and Oregon. Temperatures in Lytton broke records three days in a row before the fire, topping 121 degrees.

That’s this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

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