U.N. suspends food distribution in two towns in Ethiopia after looting

FILE PHOTO: An Ethiopian woman, who fled the ongoing fighting in Tigray region, holds her child under a World Food Programme banner in Hamdayet village on the Sudan-Ethiopia border, in the eastern Kassala state, Sudan December 15, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The World Food Programme (WFP) has suspended food distribution in Ethiopia's Kombolcha and Dessie towns after looting of supplies that staff were unable to stop due to intimidation, including being held at gunpoint, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said a large quantity of humanitarian food supplies, including nutritional items for malnourished children, were stolen and looted in Kombolcha in the Amhara region.