UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock has said there is famine in northern Ethiopia after the release of a UN-backed analysis of the situation. "There is famine now," he said, adding: "This is going to get a lot worse." The Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) found that 350,000 people were living in "severe crisis" in the war-torn Tigray region, as well as neighbouring Amhara and Afar. Tigray has been devastated by fighting between government forces and rebels. The IPC says the food situation in the region has reached the level of a "catastrophe", which it defines as starvation and death affecting small groups of people spread over large areas. "An IPC analysis update conducted in Tigray and the neighbouring zones of Amhara and Afar concludes that over 350,000 people are in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) between May and June 2021," the report says. "This severe crisis results from the cascading effects of conflict, including population displacements, movement restrictions, limited humanitarian access, loss of harvest and livelihood assets, and dysfunctional or non-existent markets," the analysis adds. But the report stops short of officially declaring a famine, which has a very specific definition. Noting that this is the highest number of people in IPC Phase 5 since the 2011 famine in Somalia, the authors of the report say it should act as an "urgent call for the delivery of crucial life-saving assistance". The IPC says its report was not endorsed by Ethiopia's government.