Thousands at risk of famine as aid support is shut out

Ethiopia is expelling seven senior U.N. officials after its government blocked aid putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk of famine.

The Tigray region has been criticised internationally with the opposing forces now likely to face U.S. government sanctions.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused U.N. officials of “meddling in the internal affairs of the country”..

White House Secretary Jen Psaki says the U.S. is disappointed in the rejection of humanitarian aid and is prepared to enforce these sanctions as a consequence.

She says the White House is “concerned that this action continues a pattern by the Ethiopian government of obstructing the delivery of food, medicine and other life-saving supplies to those most in need”.

This comes after the Ethiopian government was blamed for the region’s crisis by U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths.

The conflict has misplaced nearly two million people since it started nearly a year ago.