Ethiopian authorities have detained more than 70 drivers working with the United Nations, a U.N. spokesperson said, amid international alarm over reported widespread arrests of ethnic Tigrayans as the war in the country's north escalates.
The ethnicity of the 72 drivers was not clear. The U.N. spokesperson said the drivers are contractors of the U.N.'s World Food Programme and were arrested in Semera, the capital city of Afar region.
Afar borders the Tigray region, where conflict broke out a year ago between federal troops and forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front , the region's former ruling party. The economy, which was for more than a decade one of Africa's fastest growing, is taking a hit, with official inflation at 35% in September and food and fuel prices soaring.of 16 of its Ethiopian staff and dependents in the capital. The United Nations did not state their ethnicity.on Nov 2, which permits the government to detain anyone suspected of collaborating with a terrorist group, requires citizens to carry identification cards and permits searches of private homes.
The Addis Ababa police spokesperson said on Tuesday the arrests were not ethnically motivated and only those who violate the law are being detained.
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