Ethiopia under growing Int'l pressure to reverse expulsion of UN officials

Abiy Ahmed, the Prime Minster of Ethiopia faces condemnation over his decision to expel UN workers [File Photo]

NEW YORK - The Federal Government of Ethiopia has been asked to reverse the decision to expel United Nations workers over alleged links to Tigray Defense Forces [TDF] as thousands face starvation in the Horn of Africa nation which has been battling a serious conflict.

Seven senior officials including the heads of the U.N. Children’s Fund and OCHA, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs were on Thursday told that they had 72 hours to leave Ethiopia.

The UN Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet said Addis Ababa's decision to whip the workers was unwelcome, adding that there is an urgent need to reconsider the move for the sake of prosperity and stability in the country.

Michele Bachelet dismissed claims that the workers were meddling in the internal affairs of the country against basic standards. Her spokesman, Rupert Colville, said no warning of the impending expulsions was received.

“Basically, this was a bombshell that dropped suddenly yesterday afternoon and I think we were all caught completely by surprise. Also, by the scale of it. Seven staff across three agencies is extremely rare if not unprecedented,” Colville said.

Jens Laerke, who is the OCHA spokesperson said UN officials are key in overseeing humanitarian operations in the country. He warned their expulsion will have serious repercussions for millions of destitute, homeless people in northern Ethiopia’s conflict-ridden Tigray region.

“It remains very dire and there is a spillover of the conflict into neighboring Amhara and Afar regions, which rapidly means that the humanitarian needs are increasing and also the number of internally displaced people is increasing.… The food insecurity continues to increase with at least 5.2 million people targeted for emergency food assistance in Tigray,” Laerke said.

However, trucks containing emergency food and other humanitarian supplies are stuck in Afar. They are not moving on to Tigray because of insecurity and other restrictions. Laerke said only 11% of designated humanitarian trucks have entered Tigray since July.

U.N. agencies are appealing to Ethiopian authorities to reconsider Thursday’s decision and allow the U.N. officials to remain in the country to continue their human rights and humanitarian work.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia accused seven UN staff is ordered to leave the country of helping the TDF in various ways and asked the United Nations [UN] to “expeditiously replace this personnel to allow the continuation of our cooperation in providing humanitarian assistance.”

Ethiopia accused the staff of a host of violations and listed five including “diversion of humanitarian assistance to the TDF; violating agreed-upon security arrangements; Transferring communication equipment to be used by the TDF; continued reticence in demanding the return of more than 400 trucks commandeered by the TDF for military mobilization and for the transportation of its forces since July 2021; and dissemination of misinformation and politicization of humanitarian assistance.”

The conflict started in November 2020 when TDF attacked Northern Command triggering the deployment of Ethiopia National Defense Forces [ENDF] troops to the state. Since then, both sides have continued to exchange fire leading to the deaths of thousands of people.

GAROWE ONLINE