UN says 9 staff, 70 truckers of its staff detained in Ethiopia

BY

Egypt Today staff

-

Sat, 13 Nov 2021 - 02:52 GMT

BY

Egypt Today staff

Sat, 13 Nov 2021 - 02:52 GMT

Ethiopian Federal policemen stand at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

Ethiopian Federal policemen stand at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

CAIRO - 13 November 2021: The United Nations (UN) said at least nine of its staff remain detained by Ethiopia's federal government in Addis Ababa, and 70 truckers who were to drive humanitarian aid into the northern Tigray region have also been taken into custody.


UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters "We continue to work and engage with the government to secure their release". The spokesman added that there has still been no explanation for the detentions.

The head of the World Health Organization said that the war-torn region of Tigray in Ethiopia is under a "virtual siege," warning that its people are dying of starvation and due to a lack of medicine.
 
 
 "People are dying because of the lack of supplies," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at the organization's headquarters in Geneva, according to AFP.
 
 
He added that the World Health Organization can not send supplies and medicines to Tigray because it is under an "organized siege", as he put it, explained that the aid provided by the World Health Organization and other relief organizations to the region has diminished.
 
 
The head of the World Health Organization added: "No medicine, people are dying, no food, people are starving, no communication, they are cut off from the rest of the world, no fuel, no money."
 
 
For his part, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called on the parties to the conflict in Ethiopia to sit at the negotiating table and establish a ceasefire to allow aid to arrive.
 
 
A previous statement of the US State Department stated that Blinken renewed his call to all parties to the conflict, including the Ethiopian government to immediately enter into serious negotiations to stop hostilities, without preconditions.
 
 
Blinken stressed the need for immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access to the north of the country.

Comments

0

Leave a Comment

Be Social