UN voices grave concern as fighting spreads across northern Ethiopia by UN News, OHCHR, OCHA, HRW, agencies   25 Sep. 2026   The UN said on Friday it remains gravely concerned by the continued deterioration of the security situation across northern Ethiopia, as fighting spreads across multiple fronts and increasingly disrupts humanitarian operations.   UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the UN was “particularly troubled by incidents of harm to civilians,” and urged all parties to “exercise maximum restraint and address their differences through dialogue.”   He said the UN is trying to de-escalate the growing crisis – which threatens to return the country to the state of full-scale war in the north which erupted in Tigray in 2020. The conflict led to over 600,000 casualties and widespread civilian suffering and human rights abuses.   According to reports, internet and call services have been cut across the Tigray region. Many rely on banking and mobile transactions due to lack of access to cash and bank ATMs.   The 2020–2022 Tigray war began after political tensions between Ethiopia's federal government and the region's former ruling party, the TPLF, erupted into fighting between Government troops and Tigrayan militia in November 2020.   The conflict spread into neighbouring regions, with the UN documenting widespread atrocities and warning of famine-like conditions before it ended two years later.   The UN welcomed the peace deal of November 2022 under African Union mediation, though it has continued to highlight slow progress on implementation as a risk to the peace now under threat from this week's escalation.   The UN aid coordination office (OCHA) said the escalation risks adding to already overwhelming humanitarian needs, including among civilians displaced by previous fighting in Tigray, an area experiencing below-average rainfall linked to the El Nino weather pattern – which promises to exacerbate already extreme weather conditions.   OCHA called on all parties to ensure safe and unhindered access for humanitarian partners to reach those in need. Humanitarian workers must be protected at all times.   The UN and humanitarian partners are continuing operations where security allows, in Tigray as well as the northern regions of Amhara and Afar but limited funding constrains operations.   Insecurity is already taking its toll, on Sunday a drone strike in northwestern Tigray hit a truck carrying food assistance for internally displaced people. Road closures have displaced planned humanitarian movements, while operations in parts of Amhara face significant constraints, including the seizure of humanitarian vehicles by armed groups.   The UN stressed that all parties must ensure safe and unhindered access for humanitarian partners to reach those in need, wherever they are.   UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said he was deeply alarmed by the escalation of fighting and urged all parties to de-escalate tensions and avoid a return to full-scale war. He said airstrikes hit five schools in Tigray on 22 September, and a mortar strike two days later killed civilians in Kobo, Amhara.   “I am deeply alarmed by the recent escalation in hostilities between Ethiopian Government forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and its allies, and the harmful impacts it is already having on civilians. All parties must urgently de-escalate tensions and avoid a return to full-scale war,” said Turk.   He called on all parties to take all measures needed to ensure effective protection of civilians from harm, and to allow safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to all who need it.   The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged States with influence on the parties to take concerted steps to help bring about a cessation of hostilities.   22 Sep. 2026   Renewed Tigray Fighting Shows Need to Protect Civilians. (HRW)   Fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions erupted on September 22, 2026, between the Ethiopian military and forces aligned with the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, Tigray’s main political party. This follows reported clashes and airstrikes in Tigray since August, including in Tigray’s regional capital, Mekelle.   Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch:   “The new hostilities in northern Ethiopia raise fears that civilians will face further abuses given the warring parties’ past atrocities and ongoing impunity. The parties need to take all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure. International actors should act immediately to help protect civilians and support robust monitoring of the parties’ conduct.”   http://www.unocha.org/news/todays-top-news-ethiopia-democratic-republic-congo-yemen-occupied-palestinian-territory-haiti http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/09/1168450 http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/09/ethiopia-turk-alarmed-civilian-impact-hostilities-urges-de-escalation http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2026/10/08/tigray-faces-double-catastrophe-war-and-worsening-hunger http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/09/25/ethiopia-indiscriminate-airstrike-in-tigray http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/09/09/rising-tigray-tensions-test-african-union http://www.crisisgroup.org/stm/africa/ethiopia-eritrea/arresting-dangerous-descent-back-war-northern-ethiopia http://omnatigray.org/joint-statement-urgent-call-to-stop-the-renewed-war-on-tigray/ http://www.refugeesinternational.org/statements-and-news/ethiopian-tigrayan-forces-must-pull-back-from-the-brink/ http://www.refugeesinternational.org/statements-and-news/u-s-cutoff-of-vital-aid-to-ethiopia-risks-hunger-and-instability/
	WFP warns escalating Yemen conflict is cutting off life-saving assistance to 800,000 people by World Food Programme, agencies   14 Oct. 2026   World Food Programme (WFP) warns escalating Yemen conflict is cutting off life-saving assistance to city of Taiz.   The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that escalating conflict in Yemen has cut off life-saving assistance to 800,000 people. Shifting frontlines, blocked roads and growing insecurity are severely restricting humanitarian access in the city of Taiz and other areas affected by the conflict.   Districts in Taiz, Yemen’s third largest city, have hosted the largest numbers of internally displaced people since the beginning of the crisis and many are now inaccessible due to ongoing fighting and imminent road closures around Yemen’s most populous governorate.   The loss of access is especially alarming given that Taiz has some of the country’s highest levels of food insecurity with ten out of 16 districts previously classified at Emergency levels (IPC 4). WFP’s latest monitoring indicates that wheat flour stocks are nearly exhausted and that remaining food supplies in local markets may last only a short time if access constraints continue.   “We are critically concerned about the escalating conflict, but even more so about the growing number of people we can no longer reach because of it,” said El-Khidir Daloum, WFP Representative and Country Director in Yemen.   “Many of the families affected have been displaced multiple times and were already struggling to afford even basic food items. This is the kind of situation that can rapidly spiral into a humanitarian catastrophe if assistance cannot move safely and reach those who need it most.”   WFP and its partners cannot access more than 600,000 people in Taiz who depend on humanitarian assistance, including more than 200,000 women and children. Combined with communities affected by access losses on the West Coast of Yemen in early September, a total of 800,000 people are now beyond WFP’s reach.   Across Yemen, more than 18 million people face acute food insecurity. Some 2.2 million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, including 500,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition.   Recent WFP monitoring in accessible areas of Yemen found that 74 percent of households were unable to meet their basic food needs. This is a record number for this year and indicates food security is significantly deteriorating.   Matthew Hollingworth, WFP’s Assistant Executive Director for Programme Operations told reporters in Geneva recently that, “Hunger in Yemen today is accelerating before our eyes. And the effect of this latest flare up on the food security situation in Yemen threatens to be absolutely devastating.”   The escalation has also severely disrupted WFP operations. Offices have been breached, assets and food stocks lost, and critical supply chain routes cut off, undermining humanitarian efforts at a time of growing need.   At the same time, seventy-two UN personnel remain detained by Houthi de facto authorities, including 37 WFP colleagues. WFP joins the UN Secretary General in calling for their immediate and unconditional release.   While access to some of the worst-affected areas remain cut off, WFP has provided emergency assistance to more than 115,000 people newly displaced by the fighting in locations it can still reach. As displacement spreads and humanitarian needs increase, WFP stands ready to scale up assistance to up to 1.5 million people as access allows.   Safe and sustained humanitarian access, together with immediate funding, are critical to ensure assistance can be rapidly delivered wherever and whenever conditions permit. Without new funding, WFP will be forced to significantly reduce assistance from November, just as more families are being forced from their homes and relying on humanitarian support to survive.   WFP needs USD 268 million to sustain emergency food assistance, nutrition programmes, school meals, resilience activities and critical humanitarian logistics services in Yemen through 2027.   http://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-warns-escalating-yemen-conflict-cutting-life-saving-assistance-city-taiz http://www.icrc.org/en/article/yemen-health-system-faces-mounting-pressure-fighting-intensifies http://www.msf.org/five-things-know-about-situation-south-yemen-today   11 Oct. 2026   UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned a Houthi missile attack on Riyadh’s main airport that Saudi authorities say killed 12 people and wounded more than 300.   In a statement he said attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international law. “These attacks must cease immediately,” Mr. Guterres said.   Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority said on Sunday that 309 people were wounded in the strike on King Khalid International Airport, some of them critically.   Late on Sunday, Saudi authorities reported that another projectile had hit a passenger terminal at the airport in Riyadh, causing further injuries and a fire. It was the third Houthi attack on the airport this week.   2 Oct. 2026   Yemen’s hunger crisis deepens quickly as conflict escalates. (WFP)   Hunger is accelerating rapidly across Yemen as conflict intensifies, pushing more people deeper into crisis and threatening consequences far beyond the country’s borders, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.   For families across Yemen, the deterioration is immediate, as conflict forces people from their homes, disrupts livelihoods and makes it harder to reach communities with assistance.   The sobering context was outlined by Matthew Hollingworth, WFP’s Assistant Executive Director for Programme Operations, at a United Nations briefing in Geneva.   “The impact of the escalation of the conflict over the last few weeks on the ability of Yemeni people to put food on the table has been immediate,” said Hollingworth.   “Our own monitoring in areas of Yemen where we can operate already shows that almost three out of four households are unable to meet their basic food needs today. That’s a record number for this year in just a few weeks.”   Across Yemen, 18.3 million people face acute food insecurity. Some 2.2 million children aged under 5 are acutely malnourished, including 500,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition – the most life-threatening form of malnutrition.   Higher prices are eroding families’ ability to buy the food they need, with Yemen’s heavy reliance on imported food leaving households highly exposed when insecurity disrupts markets, transport and commercial supply. Families with little or no financial cushion are forced to eat less, buy cheaper and less nutritious food, or go without. Food is consistently among the most urgent need of the more than 150,000 people displaced in recent weeks.   “Our colleagues on the ground are seeing families arriving, especially in Lahj, outside Aden, and around Taiz city [further north], many after walking days without any water or food,” explained Hollingworth.   “Many of these families have had to flee the fighting for the second, third or even fourth time. And some are surviving largely on bread that they brought with them and a simple soup made from anything they can find, leaves, grass.”   “The conflict has already, for example, cut off access to parts of Thais and Hodeidah, which means that WFP and our partners are today prevented from reaching 350,000 people in need who we used to serve.”   “This is happening in a country that was already facing one the world’s largest humanitarian crises and one of the world’s top four more severe hunger hotspots. If the world doesn’t step up to help Yemen, the outlook is bleak,” added Hollingworth.   What begins as a hunger crisis in Yemen could compound a food security crisis far beyond its borders, Hollingworth warned.   The crisis is unfolding beside the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a major maritime corridor at the southern exit of the Red Sea, connecting trade between Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.   To compound the challenges, the Red Sea forms part of a current triple chokepoint caused by conflicts – with severe disruption to the movement of food, fuel and fertilizer across the Strait of Hormuz and the Black Sea too.   “For some people, certainly in the developed world, this will mean that prices at your supermarkets or at the gas or the petrol pumps are going to be quite a lot more expensive than before,” added Hollingworth.   “But in the world's most vulnerable countries, these price increases or the lack of availability of goods have a devastating effect. It may indeed push millions of people into acute food insecurity. And we've said this before, but let me be clear once again: today's humanitarian shock and supply chain disruptions can become tomorrow's global food crisis.”   http://www.wfp.org/stories/yemens-hunger-crisis-deepens-quickly-conflict-escalates   16 Sep. 2026   Renewed hostilities in Yemen push over 12 million children deeper into crisis. (UNICEF)   Renewed hostilities across Yemen are forcing families from their homes, killing and injuring children and disrupting access to health care and education, deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis, UNICEF warned today.   More than 104,000 people, including over 57,000 children, have been displaced in just two weeks. The fighting across western Taiz, southern Hudaydah, Marib and other affected areas is cutting children off from essential services. Twenty-six UNICEF-supported health facilities have had services disrupted, while 243 schools have closed.   “Children in Yemen were already living through one of the world’s most grave humanitarian crises, and many have known little but conflict and displacement,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “Now, tens of thousands of families have been forced from their homes in just two weeks, many fleeing only with what they can carry. For children who have already endured years of hunger, displacement and disrupted schooling, this latest violence is eroding what little stability they had left.”   Even before the latest escalation, an estimated 12.2 million children in Yemen needed humanitarian assistance. More than 2.2 million children under five are acutely malnourished, including over 515,000 children with severe acute malnutrition, while 3.2 million school-aged children are out of school. Around 17.8 million people lack adequate access to healthcare, water and sanitation services, with only 60 per cent of health facilities fully functional.   UNICEF reiterates the call of the Secretary-General for all parties to the conflict to protect civilians, including children, comply with international humanitarian law, and facilitate safe and unimpeded humanitarian access so that urgently needed assistance can reach communities in need.   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/renewed-hostilities-yemen-push-over-12-million-children-deeper-crisis http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/escalating-conflict-yemen-could-fuel-more-displacement-refugee-movement http://www.unfpa.org/news/women-give-birth-roadside-hostilities-escalate-yemen http://www.nrc.no/news/2026/yemen-tens-of-thousands-homeless-as-entire-communities-are-forced-to-flee http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/09/yemen-turk-decries-deepening-conflict-and-appalling-impact-civilians http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/joint-statement-running-out-options-yemens-families-face-dangerous-tipping-point-hunger-deepens-and-resilience-erodes-enar http://www.concern.net/press-releases/funding-cuts-putting-millions-lives-risk-yemen http://www.unocha.org/news/acting-un-deputy-relief-chief-tells-security-council-regional-tensions-could-deepen-yemens
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