UNITED NATIONS, Nov 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — All of the World Food Program drivers arrested last week in Ethiopia’s conflict-torn north have been released, a UN spokesperson said.
Some 70 drivers for the UN food aid program were arrested in the capital of Afar province, on the only functional road leading into famine-threatened Tigray.
The arrests happened after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government declared a state of emergency in early November, when rebel fighters threatened to march on the national capital Addis Ababa.
Thirty-four of the drivers were released earlier this week and UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the remaining drivers have also been set free.
“All of the 70 were released,” he told reporters in New York.
Dujarric also said that six UN staff members detained in a separate round-up were released Thursday. Five other staff employees and one dependent remain in custody, he added.
The war between the Ethiopian authorities and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), supported by the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), has killed thousands and displaced more than two million people over the past year.
The UN says all sides in the conflict have committed serious human rights violations. — NNN-AGENCIES
