SW News: With the focus of the global community on the war in Eastern Europe, the voice of innocent people in conflict-hit Tigray in Ethiopia seems to be going unheard. Bombings have become much more frequent in the province and the severing of communication lines has made ascertaining the number of casualties and extent of damage an uphill task.

Tigray is the epicenter of a civil war between armed separatists of the province and the federal troops who are assisted by soldiers and ammunition from neighboring Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. A source from the Ethiopian Catholic Church told Agenzia Fides that the situation is really dramatic and the shortage of medicines and food is acute. Schools are also closed because of the air raids of federal troops.

"For eight months there has been no news of the Bishop of the Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat the Most Rev.  Tesfaselassie Medhin. We know that Adigrat has been bombed in recent days by the Eritreans, like other villages in the Irob area: Alitena, Dawan, Agarale. There are between 70 and 80 Catholic religious and about 30 nuns of whom we know nothing and whom we are unable to contact," the news agency quoted the source as saying.

The source told the website that the bishop suffers from diabetes and they are unsure if he has medicines or if he is being administered traditional medicines. “Until some time ago, he had launched appeals with requests for help due to the terrible humanitarian situation of the population, but his letters were ignored, without any response, as if he were screaming in the desert," the source was quoted as saying.

There are reports that arms and ammunition is arriving from Turkey, China, Iran, Russia and Saudi Arabia and at least 10 Eritrean divisions are involved in the offensive against Tigray rebels.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed anguish over reports emerging from the restive region. He also bemoaned the incessant bombing that is taking lives and causing rampant damage in northern Ethiopia.