The U.N. Security Council is meeting today to discuss the crisis in Ethiopia and the recent expulsion of seven senior U.N. officials from Ethiopia amid the mounting humanitarian crisis in war-torn Tigray. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said last week he rejected the expulsion. This is Jens Laerke from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Jens Laerke: “It is critically important that the humanitarian operation continues. And it does. We have a very high number of people in very urgent need in Tigray. In fact, 5.2 million people over there are in urgent need of assistance.”

According to a CNN report, Ethiopia also used its flagship commercial airline to transport weapons during the war in Tigray.