GENEVA, July 30 — More than 100,000 children in Tigray, Ethiopia, could suffer from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition in the next 12 months, a 10-fold jump over average annual levels, the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) said today.

Unicef spokeswoman Marixie Mercado, speaking after returning from Tigray, told a UN briefing in Geneva that pregnant and breastfeeding women were acutely malnourished. "We need unfettered access into Tigray and across the region, in order to provide support children and women urgently need,” she said.

The United Nations needs satellite phones and other critical communications equipment for its aid operation in Tigray, UN spokesman Jens Laerke said, urging the Ethiopian government to grant permission. — Reuters