Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in Tigray province lay in a hut at the Um Rakuba camp in Gedaref province, Sudan. Photo: AFP

The United Nations said Monday it had released emergency funds to help provide life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection to civilians caught up in Ethiopia's spiralling conflict.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said he had released a total of $40 million aimed at scaling up emergency operations in the Tigray region and the rest of Ethiopia's conflict-hit north, and as an early response to drought in the south of the country.

"Millions of people in northern Ethiopia are living on a knife-edge as the humanitarian crisis is growing deeper and wider," said Griffiths.

A year of fighting in Ethiopia between Tigrayan rebels and government forces has left hundreds of thousands in famine-like conditions.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray in November 2020 to topple the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a move he said came in response to rebel attacks on army camps.

Though the 2019 Nobel Peace laureate vowed a swift victory, by late June the TPLF had retaken most of Tigray before expanding into the Amhara and Afar regions.

The TPLF, which has not ruled out a possible march on the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, is demanding an end to what the UN describes as a de facto humanitarian blockade on Tigray, with no aid permitted to enter in October.

Griffiths said $25 million of the fresh cash injection was coming from the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund, while another $15 million was coming from the country-based Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund.

AFP