Ethiopia expels seven senior UN officials for internal meddling

Ethiopia is expelling seven senior United Nations officials, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday, two days after a senior UN official said

hundreds of thousands of people in the northern region of Tigray were likely experiencing famine.

The seven, who include the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) have 72 hours to leave, the ministry said in a statement, accusing them of “meddling” in internal affairs.

Conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region has been raging between federal forces and those aligned with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) since November.

On Tuesday, United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths said a nearly three-month long “de-facto blockade” has restricted aid deliveries to 10 percent of what is needed in the war-torn region.

In turn, Ethiopian authorities have accused unnamed aid workers in the country of favoring and even arming Tigrayan forces, although they have provided no evidence to support their accusations.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Catherine Sozi, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Ethiopia, UNICEF, and OCHA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.