The WHO chief says there is a narrow window to ‘prevent genocide’ in Ethiopia.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, stated on Wednesday that there is a “very narrow window now to prevent genocide” in his home region of Tigray in northern Ethiopia.

Tedros, who has previously served as Ethiopia’s health and foreign minister, has been harshly critical of Ethiopian authorities throughout the two-year conflict.

The government has accused him of attempting to obtain arms and diplomatic support for rebel forces, which he has denied.

Tedros told reporters in Geneva, in his harshest comments on the war yet, that food and healthcare were being used as weapons of war in Tigray, which is largely cut off from the outside world.

“There is no other situation in the world where 6 million people have been under siege for nearly two years,” Tedros said. “There is now a narrow window of opportunity to prevent genocide.”

Legesse Tulu, the Ethiopian government’s spokesperson, Redwan Hussein, the prime minister’s national security advisor, and Billene Seyoum, the prime minister’s spokesperson, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Ethiopian government has denied blocking humanitarian aid to Tigray and targeting civilians numerous times. Thousands have been killed, millions have been displaced, and hundreds of thousands are on the verge of starvation as a result of the conflict.

This week, Ethiopian forces and their allies captured several towns in Tigray, raising fears that the advancing soldiers will commit atrocities against civilians.