Ethiopia’s Foreign Affairs ministry has declared persona non grata seven foreign expatriates for alleged meddling in the internal affairs of the country.
In letters issued and addressed to each of the seven employees, the ministry ordered them to leave Ethiopia within 72 hours.
The seven include 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, along with Sonny Onyegbula, of the UN Office of the high commissioner for human rights.
Fighting 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 2020.
Ethiopian authorities have been accusing UN employees in the country of favouring and even arming Tigrayan forces, under the guise of aid deliveries.
This has been vehemently denied by the UN in Ethiopia.
MG/as/APA