NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopia said Thursday it is kicking out seven United Nations officials whom it accused of “meddling” in the country’s internal affairs, as pressure grows on the government over its deadly blockade of the Tigray region.
The expulsions are the government’s most dramatic move yet to restrict humanitarian access to the region of 6 million people after nearly a year of war. The U.N. has become increasingly outspoken as the flow of medical supplies, food and fuel has been brought to a near-halt.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “shocked” by the announcement and expressed “full confidence” in U.N. staff, saying they are guided by impartiality and neutrality. In a statement, he said the U.N. is engaging with Ethiopia’s government “in the expectation that the concerned U.N. staff will be allowed to continue their important work.”
Ethiopia’s government has accused humanitarian workers of supporting the Tigray forces who have been fighting its soldiers and allied forces since November. Aid workers have denied it. Thousands of people have died in the conflict marked by gang rapes, mass expulsions and the destruction of health centers, with witnesses often blaming Ethiopian soldiers and those of neighboring Eritrea.
The U.N.’s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, this week told the Associated Press the crisis in Ethiopia is a “stain on our conscience” as children and others starve to death in Tigray under what the U.N. calls a de facto government blockade. Just 10 percent of needed humanitarian supplies have been reaching Tigray in recent weeks, he said.
The remarks were one of the sharpest criticisms so far of the world’s worst hunger crisis in a decade, with some 400,000 people facing famine conditions. Memories of the 1980s famine in Ethiopia, which killed around 1 million people and produced images that shocked the world, are vivid in his mind, Griffiths said, “and we fervently hope (this) is not happening at present.”
The AP, citing witness accounts and internal documents, last week reported the first starvation deaths since Ethiopia’s government imposed the blockade in June in an attempt to keep support from reaching Tigray forces.
A statement from Ethiopia’s foreign ministry said the seven U.N. officials must leave the country within 72 hours. Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Dina Mufti didn’t respond to a request for details of their alleged interference.
The U.S. condemned the expulsions, with White House press secretary Jen Psaki agreeing Ethiopia’s crisis is “a stain on our collective conscience” that must stop.
“Depriving your own citizens of the basic means of survival is unacceptable,” she said, and warned Washington could impose financial sanctions “on those who obstruct humanitarian assistance to the people of Ethiopia.”
Asked why the Biden administration isn’t taking action now, Psaki responded that “absent clear and concrete changes, we will.” She added the White House is looking to see “meaningful steps” within weeks toward a negotiated ceasefire.
The people expelled include five with the U.N. humanitarian agency, including deputy coordinator Grant Leaity, one from the U.N. human rights office and the one UNICEF representative in the country, Adele Khodr. A spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and some of the individuals expelled didn’t immediately comment.
Findings from a joint investigation into the war by the U.N. human rights office and the government- created Ethiopian Human Rights Commission — a rare setup that has drawn concern and criticism — are scheduled for release Nov. 1. It wasn’t immediately clear if the probe will be affected by the expulsion of a U.N. member of the joint team, Sonny Onyegbula.
The expulsions come as the U.N. also responds to the war’s spread into Ethiopia’s neighboring Amhara and Afar regions, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced.
“What is chilling and revealing about the U.N. officials’ expulsion is that it comes when the U.N. and other aid agencies are needed most in most parts of Ethiopia,” tweeted Mehari Taddele Maru, a professor of governance at the European University Institute.
Earlier, Ethiopia’s government suspended the operations of two major international aid groups — Doctors Without Borders and the Norwegian Refugee Committee — accusing them of spreading “misinformation” about the war.