Ethiopia is expelling seven UN officials, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.
This occurred two days after Martin Griffiths, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said a nearly three-month-long “de-facto blockade” of Tigray’s borders has restricted aid deliveries to 10% of what is required.
“This is man-made, this can be remedied by the (sic) act of government.” Griffiths warned that a government blockade of aid had likely forced hundreds of thousands of people in Tigray into famine.
There has been increasing international criticism of conditions in Tigray and all parties fighting in northern Ethiopia face the possibility of sanctions by the US government.
Ethiopia has previously denied blocking food aid.
Many fear the spreading conflict in Africa’s second-most-populous nation and a regional diplomatic heavyweight might further destabilise the region.
The seven people being expelled include the country heads of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and OCHA, and an employee of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The seven have 72 hours to leave, the ministry said in a statement, accusing them of “meddling” in internal affairs.
The OHCHR is conducting a joint investigation with Ethiopia’s state-appointed human rights commission into reports of mass killings of civilians, gang rapes and other abuses in Tigray.
The conflict erupted in November 2020 between federal forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) which controls the region.
Tigrayan forces retook most of the region at the end of June, and pushed into the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara, forcing hundreds of thousands of people there to flee their homes.