The United Nations (UN) refugee agency appealed on Tuesday to Ethiopian authorities for access to 96 000 Eritrean refugees in the northern Tigray region, where it said food is believed to have run out during the month-long conflict.

Babar Baloch, spokesperson of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told a Geneva news briefing: "Our extreme worry is that we hear about attacks, the fighting near the camps, we hear about abductions and forced removals, so this is very important for us to have that access to go and see what has happened over there."