ADDIS ABABA, 02 December, 2020, (TON): The UN says it has signed a deal with Ethiopia’s government to allow “unimpeded” humanitarian access to the embattled Tigray region, at least the parts under federal government control, a media report said on Wednesday. 

This will allow the first aid to the region of six million people that has been cut off during fighting that began a month ago between the federal and Tigray regional governments, each regarding the other as illegal. 

For weeks, the UN and others have pleaded for aid access amid reports of food, medicines and other supplies running out. 

A UN humanitarian spokesman said “We are of course working to make sure assistance will be provided in the whole region and for every single person who needs it.”  

“The UN and humanitarian partners in Ethiopia are committed to engaging with the federal government of Ethiopia and all parties to the conflict to ensure that humanitarian action in Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions be strictly based on needs and carried out in compliance with the globally agreed upon principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality,” the spokesman added. 

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people have been killed so far, and the UN has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe as civilians flee the fighting. 

The UN says some two million people in Tigray need assistance, a doubling from the number before the fighting and some one million people are displaced, including more than 45,000 Ethiopians who have fled into neighboring Sudan as refugees. 

For weeks, the U.N. and others have pleaded for access amid reports of supplies running desperately low for millions of people.