UN Says 16 Local Staff Detained In Ethiopia Amid Violence

Sixteen Ethiopian staff working for the United Nations were reportedly detained after government raids targeting ethnic Tigrayans, even as foreign envoys scramble to end the country’s year-long war.

The detentions in Addis Ababa followed the declaration of a six-month nationwide state of emergency last week after Tigrayan and Oromo rebels claimed major advances on the ground, raising fears of a march on the capital.

Humanitarian sources said, some UN staff members were taken from their homes, shortly after a senior UN envoy visited Tigray to plead for more aid to civilians.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at the world body’s headquarters that sixteen UN staffers, all Ethiopian nationals, remained in detention while another six were freed.

Lawyers say arbitrary detentions of ethnic Tigrayans—commonplace during the war—have spiked in the last week, ensnaring thousands, with the new measures allowing the authorities to hold anyone suspected of supporting “terrorist groups” without a warrant.

Tensions between the Ethiopian government and the UN have been high throughout the war, which has killed thousands of people and, according to the UN, pushed hundreds of thousands into famine-like conditions due to a de facto humanitarian blockade on Tigray.