Last week, three aid workers employed by Doctors Without Borders were found dead in Tigray, in what the aid group called a вЂњbrutal murder.вЂќ Until rebel Tigray forces took back control of the region after a weeklong offensive that pushed back Ethiopian and Eritrean troops, aid agencies were reporting blockages at checkpoints throughout the region. Agency for International Development this week put its estimate for those facing famine conditions at 900,000. said that at least 350,000 people in the conflict-ravaged region had entered a state of famine. вЂњIt is essential that civilians are protected, humanitarian aid reaches the people in need and a political solution is found,вЂќ he said on Twitter. Secretary General Antonio Guterres of the United Nations said he had spoken with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia on Monday and was вЂњhopeful that an effective cessation of hostilities will take place in Tigray.вЂќ International aid agencies on Tuesday continued to raise concern at the lack of humanitarian access for groups trying to deliver food and supplies to tens of thousands of people already suffering from famine in EthiopiaвЂ™s Tigray region. The region is facing a long list of crises including huge numbers of people displaced, lack of water and education, and a famine in which millions face hunger and thousands of farmers lack seeds for cultivation during this planting season.ДЄn emergency food distribution in the city of Mekelle last weekend. Tigrayan militias have also been accused of committing atrocities against ethnic Amharas in the early days of the war.Д«ut even as the Tigray regional government pushes on with the fight, it faces a daunting task on its own turf. Abiy has also turned to ethnic Amhara militias for help, and they have been accused of ethnic cleansing and trying to seize what they consider lost territories for their group. Abiy said the soldiers had agreed to go home. Since then, Eritrean troops have been accused of atrocities, including killings and sexual assault, and remained in the region even after Mr. Abiy had sought help from President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea in ousting the regionвЂ™s ruling party, the Tigray PeopleвЂ™s Liberation Front, from power. In the months since, Eritrean troopsвЂ™ presence within Tigray has become widely known, and it became clear that Mr.

It was a major blow to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, who last November launched an offensive into the region that he promised would be over in the span of weeks.ДЇrom the onset of the war, Tigrayans reported the involvement of Eritreans in the fighting after their towns were shelled from the direction of their northern neighbor. He spoke a day after the rebel forces, known as Tigray Defense Forces, retook the regional capital Mekelle in a stunning turnabout. вЂњWe are still in hot pursuit so that enemy forces will not pose a threat to our Tigray in any way.вЂќ вЂњWe want to degrade as many enemy capabilities as possible,вЂќ he said in a telephone interview with The New York Times on Tuesday. And he claimed that in recent days, Tigrayan forces had killed many Ethiopian troops and militia fighters, and took more prisoners. Getachew Reda, a senior Tigrayan leader, said that TigrayвЂ™s forces would not hesitate to enter Eritrea, and even try to advance toward its capital, if that is what it would take to keep Eritrean troops from attacking again. NAIROBI, Kenya - A day after retaking the capital of the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia, rebel forces have indicated they have little appetite for a truce - threatening to drag out the brutal eight-month-long civil war that has embroiled the Horn of Africa nation. EthiopiaвЂ™s government had occupied the region for months, with reports of atrocities against civilians, including sexual violence and arbitrary killings. Residents cheered on the streets of Mekelle, Ethiopia, after rebels retook control of the regional capital from government forces.

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