GENEVA (AP) 鈥� The World Health Organization chief made a passionate appeal for his embattled home region of Tigray in Ethiopia on Thursday, saying he has relatives he cannot communicate with or send money to amid a blockade by government forces.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in some of his most personal comments about after months of calm, lamented his inability to help loved ones among the 6 million people all but trapped in Tigray.
鈥淚 have many relatives there. I want to send the money. I cannot send the money. They are starving. I know I cannot help them,鈥� he said, the latest in a string of pleas about Tigray he has made during regular WHO news briefings.
鈥淚 cannot help them. I can鈥檛 help them. I can share from what I have. I cannot do that because they are completely sealed off,鈥� Tedros added. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 speak to them. I don鈥檛 know even who is dead or who is alive.鈥�
Tedros, an ethnic Tigrayan, insisted that he鈥檚 not and has spoken out about humanitarian crises in many places, including Yemen, Syria, Ukraine and Congo.
But he has sought to overcome perceived inaction and inattention from a world consumed with other trouble spots and worries, and previously said
He said the Tigray crisis was exceptional because the region is all but cut off from the world 鈥� including from humanitarian aid shipments that its people need 鈥� by government forces in Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea.
鈥淐an you tell me any place in the same situation in the world?鈥� he said. 鈥淲e are talking about the six million people (who) are collectively being punished.鈥�
On Wednesday, Tigray authorities accused Ethiopia鈥檚 military of launching a 鈥渓arge-scale鈥� offensive for the first time in a year in Tigray. Government officials countered that Tigray forces had attacked first.
The conflict began in November 2020, killing thousands of people in Africa鈥檚 second most populous country.
The Associated Press
