Famine a step away in Tigray Civil war is cutting food supply, U.N. official warns. By Rick Gladstone New York Times May 26, 2021 — 5:34pm Text size Copy shortlink: Famine is now knocking on the door of Ethiopia's Tigray region, where a civil war that erupted last year has drastically cut the food supply and prevented relief workers from helping the hungry, the top humanitarian official at the United Nations has warned. In a confidential note to the U.N. Security Council, Mark Lowcock, the undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, said sections of Tigray, a region of more than 5 million people, are now one step from famine — in part because the government has obstructed aid shipments.