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% of what is needed in the war-torn region.
Griffiths also told The Associated Press that the crisis in Ethiopia is a “stain on our conscience.”
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.
