Ethiopia shoots at, detains UN staffers in Tigray

Ethiopia’s NAIROBI, KENYA — security forces shot at and detainedUnited Nations staffers as they tried to reach part of the embattled Tigray region, a senior official said Tuesday, and he blamed the U.N. staffers for trying to reach areas where “they were not supposed to go.”

The shooting occurred amid soaring frustration among humanitarian officials as desperately needed aid is still not freely reaching the Tigray region more than a week after the U.N. and Ethiopia’s government signed a deal for access.

The senior government official, Redwan Hussein, told reporters that the U.N. employees“broke”twocheckpoints and were trying to go through a third when they were fired upon. The staffershave since been released.

“They were told in some areastheywerenotsupposed to move. But they indulged themselvesinakindofadventurous expedition,” he said.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric called the report “alarming” andsaidU.N. officials “are engaging at the highest level with the federal government to express our concerns and avoid any such incidents in the future.”

He said the fourU.N. staffers on Sunday had been trying to assess roads, a key step before larger aid convoys can go in. Another U.N. spokesman said the staffers were stopped at a military checkpointnear Sheraro. Thetown is near the Eritrean border.

Ethiopia’s government is making it clear it intends to manage the flow of humanitarian aid, but the U.N. has openly sought unfettered and neutral access according to international principles.

“The situation on the ground is complicated” at the local level, Dujarric said, anddiscussionscontinuewith the government “to try to get where we want to be.”

Crucially, the deal allows aid only in areas under Ethiopian government control.