The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, António Guterres, has reiterated the body’s commitment to help Ethiopian people who rely on humanitarian assistance.
The UN chief made the statement after the government of Ethiopia declared seven UN officials, including senior UN humanitarian officials, as persona non grata, ordering them to leave the country within 72 hours.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a tweet that five members of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as well as the UN International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) representative, and a team leader from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) were being ordered out of the country.
The foreign ministry said Ethiopia was ejecting the UN officials for allegedly ‘meddling in the internal affairs of the country’.
‘I was shocked by the information that the Government of Ethiopia has declared seven UN officials, including senior UN humanitarian officials, as persona non grata’, Guterres said in a statement.
‘All UN humanitarian operations are guided by the core principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence’.
According to the UN, some 5.2 million people currently need help in the country’s northern regions of Tigray, Amhara and Afar, after fighting erupted in November 2020 between the country’s troops and those loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
The crisis started after the TPLF, the regional government in Tigray, attacked a key Ethiopian military base in the region.
OCHA, in its recent Ethiopia – Tigray Region Humanitarian Update, reported that over 400,000 people are living in famine-like situations in many parts of Tigray.
‘In Ethiopia, the UN is delivering life-saving aid – including food, medicine, water, and sanitation supplies – to people in desperate need’, Guterres added.
‘I have full confidence in the UN staff who are in Ethiopia doing this work’.
The UN boss concluded, ‘We are now engaging with the Government of Ethiopia in the expectation that the concerned UN staff will be allowed to continue their important work’.
Source: UN
Photo source: UNHCR/Will Swanson
