Report: 5,000-plus deaths under Ethiopia’s Tigray blockade

By CARA ANNA
Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Nearly 1,500 people died of malnutrition in just part of Ethiopia’s blockaded Tigray region over a four-month period last year, including more than 350 young children, a new report by the region’s health bureau says. It cites more than 5,000 blockade-related deaths in all from hunger and disease in the largest official death toll yet associated with the country’s war. The head of Tigray’s health bureau tells The Associated Press that the assessment reflects deaths between July and October and covers just 40% of the region. He fears that the toll in still-inaccessible areas will show “the real extent of the crisis.”