Antonio Guterres seeks document from Ethiopian govt on wrongdoings by expelled UN staff

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday, 6 October, requested the Ethiopian government to provide a copy of any document that it claims had been submitted to the UN outlining the wrongdoings by expelled agency staff. Speaking at a UNSC meeting, Guterres said that he has no knowledge about the wrongdoings by UN staff in Ethiopia. He, however, also emphasised that if the documents are given to the United Nations he has to investigate what has happened. 

The UN chief said, “If there is any written document provided by the Ethiopian government to any UN institution about any of the members of the UN that were expelled, I would like to receive a copy of the document.”

Guterres' remarks come after Ethiopia’s Ambassador to the UN Taye Atske Selassie earlier this week said that the country’s Deputy PM and Foreign Minister wrote a letter to the UN chief, with detailed explanation about the misconduct by the seven expelled UN officials. Selassie informed that the letter by the Ethiopian officials consisted of evidence of the UN officials executing conspiracies created by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. It also revealed how UN officials were assisting in the fabrication of false evidence to the UNSC and developing unfounded allegations against the Ethiopian government. 

UN, US condemns expulsion 

Ethiopia expelled seven UN workers, saying they were “meddling in the internal affairs of the country”. The Ethiopian government ordered the expulsion of senior UN officials including individuals from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). Grant Leaity, deputy humanitarian coordinator for OCHA, and Adele Khodr, UNICEF representative in Ethiopia, were among those expelled. OCHA’s Kwesi Sansculotte, Saeed Moahmoud Hersi, Ghada Eltahir Midawi and Marcy Vigoda were also ordered to leave the country, along with Sonny Onyegbula, of the UN Office of the high commissioner for human rights.

Meanwhile, the move by the Ethiopian government came as the UN humanitarian workers have been sounding the alarm about the limited access to the embattled Tigray region, which has been racked by conflict for almost 11 months. Previously, Guterres had expressed shock at the expulsion and said that the United Nations was committed to helping the Ethiopian people. Separately, the United States also said that it will impose sanctions related to Ethiopia’s “absent significant progress”. In a statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US “strongly” condemned the decision to expel UN humanitarian workers.

(With inputs from ANI)