Ethiopia detains UN staffers, accuses them of ‘terror act’

By CARA ANNA
Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The United Nations says at least 16 of its local employees have been detained in Ethiopia’s capital. A government spokesman says they are held because of “their participation in terror” under a state of emergency as the country’s yearlong war escalates and ethnic Tigrayans face a new wave of arrests. A humanitarian worker tells The Associated Press the detained staffers are Tigrayan. The U.N. seeks their immediate release. Tigrayans including lawyers have reported widespread detentions in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa since the state of emergency was declared. The U.S. says if the reports are true, detentions based on ethnicity are “completely unacceptable.”