UN calls for release of workers in Ethiopia
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations has demanded that Ethiopia immediately release more than a dozen U.N. workers.
A total of 22 local employees of various U.N. agencies had been detained in the capital Addis Ababa without being given any reason, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in New York on Tuesday. Of these, 16 are still in custody, he said.
“It is imperative that they be released,” he said.
The conflict between Ethiopia’s central government and rebels from the north of the country has coincided with rising tensions between the United Nations and Nobel Peace Prize winner Abiy Ahmed.
A few weeks ago, seven U.N. staff members were expelled in an unprecedented operation. U.N. Secretarygeneral Antonio Guterres accused Ethiopia of violating international law.
The conflict with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which began about a year ago, has since spread to other parts of the country. Together with rebels of the Oromo Liberation Army, the TPLF is advancing on Addis Ababa.
With almost 115 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the country with the second largest population in Africa. The multiethnic state was long considered an anchor of stability in the region.
When asked, U.N. spokesperson Dujarric would not comment on whether those arrested were U.N. workers from the Tigray region.
“They are Ethiopians. They are U.N. staff members, and we would like to see them released regardless of whatever ethnicity is listed on their identity cards,” he said.
Guterres said he was frustrated that the U.N. could not provide the necessary humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of people suffering from hunger.