(AP) — Days after kicking out seven U.N. officials, Ethiopia accused them without providing evidence Wednesday of inflating the magnitude of humanitarian crisis and taking sides in the war in its Tigray region, while U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pressed the country’s ambassador for documentation of the allegations.
Representatives for China and Tunisia — speaking for the council’s three African members plus St. Vincent and the Grenadines — called for “quiet diplomacy.”
The unexpected exchange came at a Security Council meeting called to discuss the officials’ expulsion amid what the U.N. sees as an escalating humanitarian catastrophe in the Horn of Africa nation. To some council members, the ejection of the officials — most of them with the U.N.’s humanitarian agency — will complicate already difficult aid operations.
Ethiopian Ambassador Taye Atske Selassie laid out newly detailed claims about the officials. He alleged they inflated the number of needy people by 1 million, cheered the Tigrayan forces who are fighting the government, invented a dozen deaths in a camp for displaced people, and helped channel Ethiopian migrants from Saudi Arabia to another African nation “for training and preparation” to fight with the Tigrayans, among other accusations.
“Ethiopia deeply resents this experience,” the ambassador said, adding that the government had written to the U.N. about staff conduct in July.
A surprised Guterres responded that he had known nothing of these allegations and that he had twice asked Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to send him details on any concerns about the impartiality of U.N. staffers.
Guterres, who maintains Ethiopia had no right under the U.N. charter to expelthe officials, took a rare step for a secretary-general by responding directly in the council chamber. He asked the ambassador to provide any written documents that the government may have about any alleged wrongdoing by any of the seven officials.
“It is my duty to defend the honor of the United Nations,” Guterres told reporters afterward. He said if such documents are provided, the U.N. will investigate why he wasn’t alerted about the matter.
Ethiopia announced the expulsions last Thursday, accusing the U.N. officials of meddling in the country’s internal business.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called the expulsions reckless, unjustified and an affront to the U.N., its member countries and humanitarian principles.
Asked later about the Ethiopian envoy’s accusations, she said the U.S. wanted to see the allegations and “where they’re coming from,” but it “raises some concerns” that they emerged after the officials were kicked out.
Thomas-Greenfield urged the council to consider passing a resolution to help ensure the U.N. can deliver humanitarian aid in Ethiopia.
“If these calls for humanitarian access continue to go unheard, then the Security Council must act,” she said.
Indian Ambassador T.S. Tirumurti wanted to “de-escalate the situation through engagement and dialogue,” and Russian deputy Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva said the council shouldn’t “overdramatize the developments” in what her country views as Ethiopia’s internal affairs.
The Ethiopian ambassador asked the U.N. to send new staffers to replace those forced to leave, and he said his country wanted to work with the international community.
“No one should doubt the Ethiopian tradition of hospitality,” he said. “What we ask is respect, dignity and honesty.”