Ethiopia: sixteen local UN workers detained by authorities, six more released

Illustrative photo: View of the boundaries of the Ethiopian capital on November 5, 2021 © Tiksa Negeri, Reuters

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At least twenty Ethiopian employees of United Nations agencies were arrested in Addis Ababa, we learned this Tuesday, November 9, by the Ethiopian authorities.

Six of them were released, according to the UN, but sixteen remained in detention in the capital of Ethiopia.

These arrests take place while a state of emergency has been in place in the country for a week, and the government has called on the population to denounce the spies.

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They would be at least 22, according to UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, who spoke to the press on Tuesday from UN headquarters in New York.

All are employed by the United Nations, stationed in Addis Ababa.

Some have been apprehended directly from their homes by Ethiopian police in recent days.

A UN team was able to visit them in various police stations in the capital.

The world organization calls for their immediate and unconditional release.

Notes verbales were sent to this effect to the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry, reports our correspondent in Addis Ababa,

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Individuals have already been released, says Dujarric.

We do not yet know the reasons for these arrests, nor the United Nations.

What we do know, however, is that the state of emergency declared last week in Ethiopia allows law enforcement to apprehend individuals without an arrest warrant.

Since then, several waves of arrests have already taken place, mainly targeting people of Tigrayan origin.

But the detention of UN personnel indicates that a new level has been crossed.

This is the first time that Ethiopian authorities have arrested international officials.

On Monday, the UN chief of political affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, said the risk of a generalized civil war in Ethiopia had never been more real than it is now.

► Also to listen: How massacres marked the beginning of the war in Tigray

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