 More than 100,000 children in Tigray, Ethiopia, could suffer from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition in the next 12 months at 10-fold jump over annual average levels. That's according to the UN Children's Fund UNICEF on Friday. UNICEF spokeswoman Maxie Mercado, speaking after returning from Tigray, said that one in two pregnant and breast-feeding women, screened in the northern region, was acutely malnourished, leaving them and their babies prone to sickness. As UNICEF reaches areas of Tigray that were inaccessible in past months due to insecurity, our worst fears about the health and well-being of children in that conflicted region of northern Ethiopia are being confirmed. UNICEF estimates that over 100,000 children in Tigray could suffer from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition in the next 12 months, a 10-fold increase compared to the average annual caseload. It has been more than two weeks since a WFP-led convoy made its way to Mekele in Tigray. A convoy of over 200 trucks is on its way now from Semera to Mekele. This is a drop in the ocean. We need at least 100 trucks to be making their way every day into Tigray if we are to stand the chance to reverse the catastrophic situation which you have had today. We can say that this communication equipment is only for humanitarian purposes, in a neutral, independent, impartial manner in order to carry out our operations. We need satellite phones, for example. We need that communication equipment to go in. So we don't know why that is not happening. We can only say we need this and we need those permissions, please. Okay, we're now being joined by journalist from Tigray, Ticle Gabriel-Marco, based in Sweden. Hi, Ticle. Hello. Hello. Thanks for joining us on News Now. My pleasure. Thank you. So looking at the conflict, it started on November 4 when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abihamid ordered a military offensive against regional forces in Tigray, right? Now, why do African leaders seem to have little consideration for dialogue in solving problems? Well, that is a profoundly important and relevant question, and I'm sure it's one that deserves investigation and research. But I think you can't help but wonder if there is a lack of conviction among African leaders that they could solve African problems despite the sloganeering that we hear every now and then. There are these famous slogans that they call African solutionists for African problems. But actually, you never see them actually believing and going about a practical job to actually solve African problems. So there is a lack of conviction. You hear platitudes and slogans and stuff, but you don't really see African problems engaging in solving African problems. So that could be one factor. The other factor could be, or at least a possible explanation. People who live in glass houses don't throw stones at each other, and there is a tendency to interfere in other countries' affairs because they fear that tomorrow it would be their turn, and therefore they tend to shy away from other people's issues, from other leaders' issues, for fear of themselves. So that could also be another factor. And I think the other is that there is very generally a tendency to believe government talking points in Africa. So whenever the Ethiopian government or the Abu-Rajid gives an account of what is happening in Ethiopia, you sense a tendency among African leaders to totally buy that story and to say everything is okay, the grass is green, and there's nothing that could be done. But either way, I'm sure there could be other explanations, but the one thing that can't be denied is the African leaders and the African organizations, and especially the African Union, has been an utter source of shame and humiliation for the last eight months or nine months in the face of atrocities being committed in Tigray. Absolutely. Now, after almost three decades of holding power, what again does the Tigray's dominant political party, the People's Liberation Front, want? Well, I think I would push down on the allegation that the TPLF had dominated Ethiopian politics for the last 30 years. Maybe you view a bit of context. So what happened is Ethiopia was being ruled by a minister hunter from 1974 until 1991 when the TPLF almost single-handedly toppled the regime and wrote about a change and constituted a constitution and the federal system that people in a derogatory manner called the ethnic-based federalism. So due to the manner with which the system was created, there was an inevitable kind of dominance by the TPLF. But other than that, there wasn't anything systemic or systematic that was built in the system that allowed the TPLF to dominate. And in fact, Ethiopia was ruled by the EPRD, which was a coalition of four parties of whom the TPLF was only one. And the TPLF was at least on paper in charge of the Tigray region, which has been at war now. And the Oromos were being governed by a party that represented the Oromos and the same applied to the Amharas and the same applied to other ethnic minorities, although I wouldn't want to use that term. But generally, the TPLF wasn't as dominant as people would have you believe. But in terms of what the TPLF wants now, the TPLF probably is the only party now in Ethiopia that is demanding that the constitution be respected, that the constitution be appalled, that whatever dispute or disagreement there are in the country, there should be a political dispensation in the country rather than a result to military confrontation, which is what the government has preferred to do. So the demand, as far as the TPLF is concerned, is that the constitution should be appalled, that the constitution should be the supreme law of the land rather than the whim of a single person, which is the case today. Okay, now particularly we're talking about the appalling the constitution, which is a brilliant idea if you ask me. But then it was anti-government protests that helped sideline Tigris' dominant political party, the People's Liberation Front, the TPLF, in 2018, looking at antecedents. Well, doesn't it look like the citizens have more confidence in restiveness than in peaceful resolution? Well, absolutely. I think you would have to look a little bit deeper into why the people demonstrated and protested against the regime in 2018. The regime was doing poor in terms of the economy and the other aspects, and people grew disillusioned in terms of where the country was going. So it wasn't that they had a problem with the TPLF per se, although that is how it has been narrated now. But the people wanted a change in terms of job opportunities and other aspects. And the TPLF was pretty much one of the main drivers behind bringing about the change. They were saying, okay, we have got something fundamentally wrong and we needed a change of direction. And the TPLF was advocating to bring about change. And when the change came in terms of becoming the prime minister, the understanding was that a new charter would be formulated that he would serve as the kind of transitional leader, and Ethiopia would become more democratic, there would be more press freedom, and there would be other fundamental change. So that was why he was interested, the task. And what happened was he disbanded the party that elected him, and he created kind of one-man system. And that's what happened. Thank you, Tickle. Tickle, you make it very difficult to stop your conversation. Thank you. Thank you for your time. We sure get about you in the coming days. Thank you. Thank you.