The United Nations said it was not given a reason for detention, but ethnic Tigrayans, including lawyers, have reported extensive detentions since a state of emergency was declared in Addis Ababa.
The United Nations has said at least 16 of its local employees have been detained in Ethiopia’s capital, and a government spokesman said they were “in panic” under a new state of emergency as the country’s annual war escalated. due to their participation”.
All the detained workers are ethnic Tigrayans, a humanitarian activist told The Associated Press on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
The United Nations said it was not given a reason for detention, but ethnic Tigrayans, including lawyers, have reported extensive detentions since the declaration of emergency in Addis Ababa, saying people were picked up only on the basis of their ethnicity. He is going.
“He is being detained in facilities against his will,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. He said another six staff members were detained but then released, and dependents of several employees were also detained.
Government spokesman Legacy Tulu said in a message to the AP that the detentions were “due to his wrongdoings and his involvement in the terrorist act”, without giving details. “It has nothing to do with his office and job.” The Ethiopian government has said it is detaining people suspected of supporting rival Tigre forces fighting Ethiopia’s government for the past year.
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said security aides have met with the detainees and the UN has asked Ethiopia’s foreign ministry for their immediate release.
The government-created Ethiopian Human Rights Commission noted with concern this week that the new wave of arrests “appears to be based on ethnicity” and includes older adults and mothers with children. The AP confirmed that those detained included priests, monks and other clergy of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
Envoys from the African Union and the United States are trying to encourage an immediate ceasefire by the Ethiopian government and Tigre forces, which dominated the national government for a long time before Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power.
Thousands have been killed, thousands taken into custody and millions displaced in the year-long war. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people in the Tigre region face a state of famine under a government blockade aimed at preventing food, medicine and other aid from potentially reaching Tigre forces.
UN Humanitarian Chief Martin Griffith ended a visit to Ethiopia a day after UN Tigreyan staff were detained, during which he met with the prime minister and joined Tigre to advocate for greater access to millions of people in need. Visited “real officers”.
Ethiopia’s government expelled seven UN staffers from the country last month, accusing them of unfairly exaggerating the scale of the crisis without evidence. The move was condemned by other countries and international agencies.
,