Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said it would expel seven high-ranking UN officials from the country. The authorities made this decision two days after the UN warned that hundreds of thousands of people in the northern Tigray region were starving due to the government blockade of aid.
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The publication notes that this move comes amid growing international criticism of conditions in the Tigray, as well as the fact that all sides of the fighting in northern Ethiopia face the possibility of imposing sanctions from the US government.
Many countries fear that the spreading conflict in Ethiopia – Africa’s second most populous country and a regional diplomatic heavyweight – could further destabilize an already volatile region.
In particular, Ethiopia is expelling the heads of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Seven UN staff members have 72 hours to leave the country as they are accused of “interfering” in internal affairs.
In turn, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that he was “shocked” by the expulsion of the organization’s employees.
“We are now working with the Ethiopian government in the hope that the relevant UN staff will be allowed to continue their important work,” he said.
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