35 children die in Ethiopia’s Afar amid drought, conflict

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — At least 35 children have died in recent weeks due to drought and conflict in Ethiopia’s northeastern Afar region, according to a local hospital and the medical charity Doctors Without Borders. The announcement Thursday came days after a government minister denied that people have died due to food shortages. Ethiopia is facing one of the worst droughts in the past 40 years following consecutive failed rains in the Horn of Africa. The Afar region also saw some of the fiercest fighting in the war that erupted in Ethiopia’s neighboring Tigray region in November 2020.