WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Author/alex de waal - Global Impact

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The aid should flow to Tigray now, no matter what. That is the law, and the United Nations should uphold it.

Brkti Gebrehiwot, a 20-year-old woman from Agulae, a town previously occupied by Eritrean troops, tries to feed her one year and eight month old son Aamanuel Merhawi, who suffers from severe acute malnutrition at Wukro hospital in Wukro, Tigray region, Ethiopia, July 11, 2021. [Giulia Paravicini/Reuters]

By allowing much-needed aid to reach starving Tigrayans, the Ethiopian PM may prevent his country’s disintegration.

Children, who fled the violence in Ethiopia's Tigray region, wait in line for breakfast organised by a volunteer, in Mekelle, the capital of Tigray region, on June 23, 2021 [File: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP]

Under the banner of national sovereignty, Ethiopia is subverting Africa’s hard-won norms, principles and institutions.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed gestures at the House of Peoples Representatives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on November 30, 2020 as he responds to questions about the ongoing conflict in Tigray [Amanuel Sileshi / AFP]