A United Nations humanitarian flight to the Ethiopian region of Tigray, epicenter of a year-old war that threatens to cause deepening famine, was ordered to abort a landing Friday as government airstrikes hit the area for a fourth day.
The flight by the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service, bound for the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle, returned to the national capital, Addis Ababa, and all such flights were suspended, said Steve Taravella, a spokesperson for the World Food Program, the U.N. anti-hunger agency that manages the air service.
It was the first time a U.N. humanitarian flight had been forced to abandon a mission into the Tigrayan region because of airstrikes, said Gemma Connell, the top U.N. aid official for southern and eastern Africa.
